Cricketer-turned-politician, Gautam Gambhir of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has helped an ailing Pakistani minor get a visa for treatment in India, Times of India reported.
According to reports, Gambhir wrote to the Ministry of External Affairs, requesting help for seven-year-old Omaima Ali with congenital heart disease.
In a letter to the former cricketer, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that he had directed the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad to grant the necessary visa to the minor girl and her parents.
Gambhir was quoted as saying that he had learnt about the girl’s condition through a phone call to his office by former Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Yousuf. Following this, the now lawmaker wrote to the ministry on October 1, seeking help for the child.
“I have asked our high commissioner in Islamabad to issue appropriate visas to Omaima Ali and her parents,” the minister wrote back to Gambhir in his letter dated October 9.
Sharing the letter on Twitter, Gambhir wrote a poetic tweet in Hindi, “A little heart knocked from the other side and the heart this side removed all the boundaries. A sweet breeze has wafted through with those little feet, it seems sometimes like a daughter has come home.”
Meanwhile, Omaima’s maternal uncle from Karachi thanked Gautam and said that they would be travelling to India soon.
