MEA Steps up Efforts to Find Geeta's Family, Releases Photo

18.12.2015, NEW DELHI: With no matches found so far, the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday launched a fresh attempt to find the family of Geeta, the deaf and mute young woman who was brought back from Pakistan after being stuck there for a long time.

The ministry has released a new, recreated photo of the woman to help those who remember having seen her as a child recognise her.

“We appeal to everyone, including the media, to help us find the parents of Geeta. We would also circulate this picture of Geeta through the public broadcasters so that if anyone who knows Geeta find this photograph , they can come forward and help us,” ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters here.

“Geeta doesn’t have pictures of herself when she was a teenager. Based on the information we got from Geeta, we have taken her picture. This is an actual picture, not a photoshopped one of Geeta as she would have looked when she was living India,” he added. While several families, including a Muslim one, had come forward to claim her, Geeta did not recognise them, and neither was there any DNA match. She is now staying at a special school in Indore.

Replying to a question, Swarup said there was no decision yet on the dates and venue of the January meeting between the Indian and Pakistani Foreign Secretaries.

The two Foreign Secretaries have been tasked with drawing up the schedule for the Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue, after the meeting of the External Affairs Ministers in Islamabad.

On what India’s stand will be if the Pakistan Foreign Secretary met Hurriyat leaders again, he said, “All the bilateral issues are to be addressed mutually between India and Pakistan and this was recently reiterated in a joint statement issued after the External Affairs Ministers’ meeting with the Pakistan PM and his Foreign Affairs Advisor in Islamabad.”