Sharbat Gula, the famed green-eyed ‘Afghan girl’ who was immortalised in 1985 when the National Geographic magazine published her haunting picture on its cover, was arrested here on Wednesday for staying in Pakistan with fake identity documents.
Confirming her arrest, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) authorities said Sharbat, now in her 40s, was arrested from the Nothia area for illegally possessing a Pakistani ID card.
Dubbed as ‘Mona lisa of Afghan war’, Sharbat catapulted into global prominence after National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry captured her iconic photograph when she was a 12-year-old girl at the Nisar Bagh refugee camp on the edge of Peshawar in 1984.
She had migrated to Pakistan after situation in Afghanistan became worse and married to a Pakistani man.
Sharbat was arrested for fraud from her home following a two-year-long investigation.