After Geeta, Islamabad Hopes Pakistanis Will Be Freed

New Delhi, Oct 26 (IANS) Pakistan on Monday expressed the hope that India will free Pakistanis from Indian jails after Islamabad sent home Geeta, a young deaf and mute Indian woman who was stranded there for over a decade.

"Hope Pakistani prisoners would be released (by India) as soon as possible so that they come and stay with their families for the rest of their lives," Pakistan High Commission spokesperson Manzoor Ali Memon told reporters here.

He was speaking to the media after Geeta, who had been stranded in Pakistan for over a decade arrived here at the Indira Gandhi International Airport via a Pakistani flight.

Ali said there were 459 Pakistani prisoners who were languishing in Indian jails.

Geeta, who arrived by a Pakistan International Airlines flight 272, was accompanied by members of Edhi Foundation, a social welfare organisation that has been looking after her since 2003 when she crossed over to Pakistan accidentally.

She would be handed over to her family after a DNA test to establish the conclusive proof of her parents.

Geeta, now in her early 20s, was around 11 years old when she inadvertently crossed the border to Pakistan.

In 2003, Geeta -- then 11 years old -- was spotted by the Pakistan Rangers in Lahore and handed over to the Edhi Foundation. Bilquis Edhi, who runs the Edhi Foundation, named her Geeta.