Geeta to go through DNA test in India, says Sushma Swaraj

NEW DELHI (Staff Report) - Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Thursday said Indian girl Geeta, who has been stuck in Pakistan for last 15 years, will go through a DNA test prior to being handed over to her Indian parents.

In a post on micro-blogging website Twitter Swaraj said “Geeta will be back in India soon. We have located her family. She will be handed over to them only after the DNA test.

Geeta will be back in India soon. We have located her family. She will be handed over to them only after the DNA test.#Geeta

— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) October 15, 2015

Earlier this day Pakistan's Edhi Foundation said that arrangements have been completed to send Geeta back to her homeland on October 26.

Speaking to media Faisal Edhi said that Geeta hails from Bihar state of India and Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan has located her parent in initial verification.

“The picture was provided to us by Indian embassy. It featured Geeta’s parents along with four brothers and a sister… She immediately recognised her family members,” he said.

Geeta, then aged 11 or 12, had no identity papers when she was found by police alone and disorientated on a train that had crossed the border into Lahore. Even the name Geeta was given to her by Edhi staff.

She was handed over to Edhi officials, who have looked after her ever since.

In Karachi she lives at an Edhi shelter for women and girls in a bustling area of the old city, where they discovered she was Hindu and set up a place for her to worship.

Geeta rings bells and lights incense and earthenware lamps to pray to different Hindu gods, whose images are kept on a table topped with a white cloth.

“She worships her deities in the temple and also offers prayers with her Muslim fellows and even fasts in the holy month of Ramadan,” Edhi said.