Staying in MP, Geeta longs to meet family

Visibly happy on her return to India after staying in Pakistan for more than a decade, speech- and hearing-impaired Geeta longs to meet her long-lost family.

Through sign language, she conveyed to journalists on Friday that she still remembers the faces of her parents and her native home.

Geeta was aged around 11 when she crossed into Pakistan by mistake in 2003. At Lahore, Pakistan Rangers handed her over to the Edhi Foundation, a social welfare organisation that looked after her since then. She returned to India on October 26.

Geeta, who has been lodged at the Indore-based institute for deaf and dumb, conveyed through institute director Monica Punjabi that she was looked after well here.

District collector P. Narhari, who was present on the occasion, said the particulars of all the families which claimed to be related to Geeta were sent to the ministry of external affairs.

He said efforts were on to locate her family, adding that External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is scheduled to visit Indore on November 23 to meet Geeta, who is now aged around 23.