Pak journalist pocketed Sharbat Gula’s money sent by National Geographic? KHAAMA PRESS – Tue Nov 08 2016

The controversial detention of the iconic Afghan woman Sharbat Gula has unveiled new harrowing facts regarding the alleged misuse of the funds allocated by National Geographic and the American photographer Steve McCurry.
According to the reports, the social media in Pakistan is rife with the alleged embezzlement of the funds which were supposed to be delivered to Sharbat Gula.
The Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal took to the social media by posting his views regarding the alleged misuse of the funds, involving a well known Pakistani journalist.
“I have been following the testy discussions on social media with respect to claims that Pak’s well-known journalist Mr. Rahimullah Yousufzai might’ve pocketed money destined to the iconic but poor Sharbat Gula from the National Geographic (the NG) and also Mr. Steve McCurry, the photographer who was also made famous by the worldwide popular image of the green-eyed Afghan girl that he took back in 1985,” Zakhilwal said in a message posted in official Facebook account.
Zakhilwal published the post after the issue was broadcasted in the mainstream media on Monday as Mr. Yousufzai came out to defend himself through a series of interviews.
The Afghan Ambassador questioned the clarifications given by Mr. Yousufzai, calling his response as unsatisfactory as he emphasized that the clarifications raised more questions in his mind.
In a bid to help lay the rumors to rest, Zakhilwal suggested some clarifications to the questions as he emphasized that his questions do not mean anything more rather to resolve the issue.
“First, in all of Mr. Yousufzai’s interviews he tried to show as if his whole link to Sharbat Gula was the last $5000 he received from Mr. McCurry for help with her legal case which run into some complication. However, in the same interviews he also admitted that NG and Mr. McCurry had been sending their monthly “donations” to Sharbat Gula since 2002 through him and that he served as a pro-bono middle man and father figure to her and her family and that he was their contact person to outside. In addition to this contradiction, he then went on to confirm that Sharbat Gula signed a 10 year contract with the NG in 2002 on the basis of which she was receiving the monthly allowance in return for the NG being the sole publisher of her pictures and story. The question then is, was the monthly allowance Sharbat Gula received through Mr. Yousufzai a “donation” or a contractual entitlement?” Zakhilwal asked.
The Ambassador further addded “As per my information neither she nor any member of her family has seen or remember any contract let alone having a copy and knowing the substance of it. All she knew was what she had been told by Mr. Yousufzai that in return for the $200 she received from the NG she could not give interview or pictures to any other paper or magazine for the 10 year period.”
“Since 2002 when Sharbat Gula was rediscovered by Mr. McCurry with Mr. Yousufzai’s support her only accumulated asset to date has been a small house that she sold for about $28,000 prior to her arrest (which is not as of yet paid) and $2800 in cash that she had saved from the monthly allowance. Unlike what I read about Mr. McCurry’s promise in 2002 that with support form the NG she would have a comfortable life from then on, Sharbat Gula in fact has had a life of poverty and extreme difficulty and the fact that she lost her 38 year old husband and a teenage daughter to a curable decease (Hepatitis C) some 5 years ago and from which Sarbat Gula is also suffering because they could not afford the treatment is a testament to that. It needs to be clarified whether its 10 year contract in 2002 as per which it continued to use Sharbat Gula’s pictures and story as commercials, most likely bringing millions of additional subscribers to the world famous magazine indeed was worth $200 per month for her? If yes, this would will certainly raise further more serious questions, and if not then what was the contract worth because Sharbat Gula has certainly not received more than stated above,” he added.
In conclusion, Ambassador Zakhilwal said “Lastly, was Mr. Yousufzai’s middle man role in this indeed father-figure pro-bono as he claimed in his interviews or did he also benefited from this? If yes, how his pay fared in comparison to the $200 Sharbat Gula was paid????”http://www.khaama.com/pak-journalist-pocketed-sharbat-gulas-money-sent-by-national-geographic-02232