In 1985, Journalist and photographer Steve McCurry had photographed Sharbat Gula dubbed as ‘Afghan girl' who appeared in the National Geographic cover. Seventeen years later, he tried to track her down.
Steve McCurry did not record the name of the Afghan Girl he had photographed in December 1984 during the time of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. She was 12 years old at that time who lived in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan.
In early 2002, McCurry tracked the Afghan Girl down and she was identified as Sharbat Gula who was living with her three daughters and baker husband in a remote Afghan village.
A recent report reveals that the Afghan Girl has been arrested in Pakistan on Wednesday, Oct. 26 for holding fake identity papers, reports The New York Times. She was arrested in her home in Peshawar near the Afghan border and could face up to 14 years in jail.
"We raided the house and picked her up. It took us a while to collect all the evidence against her, and the officials involved in helping her and her two sons get Pakistani national identity cards. We have the evidence now, and we are going to go for prosecution," said director of the Federal Investigation Authority Shahid Ilyas.
Using the name Sharbat Bibi, the Afghan Girl applied for an identity card in April 2014. Three staff who issued her the identity card are nowhere to be found by the Pakistan's FIA (Federal Investigation Agency), said an official from National Database Registration Authority (Nadra), BBC News reported.
"They may not be her sons, but this is a common practice among Afghan refugees whereby they list names of non-relatives as their children to obtain documents", a Nadra source told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.
Upon learning about the arrest, photographer Steve McCurry posted the picture on his Instagram account and wrote: "Two hours ago, I got word from a friend in Peshawar, Pakistan, that Sharbat Gula has been arrested. We are doing everything we can to get the facts by contacting our colleagues and friends in the area."
The 'Afghan Girl' is one of the most iconic covers of National Geographic magazine. The young woman with green eyes in a red headscarf was looking fiercely at the camera and has been called "the First World's Third World Mona Lisa".
