Ranjit Thakur
Jammu, January 21

Two-year-old nomad girl, Ahida Parveen, born with cleft lip deformity in Hill Kaka village, once considered the hotbed of militancy in remote Poonch district, can now smile like other children.

And the credit for this goes to the Army which provided her financial assistance for a life-changing surgery to rebuild her mouth. Ahida, the daughter of Nazakat Hussein, was born two years ago with cleft lip deformity in militancy-affected area of Hill-Kaka village in Surankote tehsil of Poonch.

She did not have an easy life as she was unable to take food or eat properly before the surgery due to cleft lip.

Sarpanch, Bafliaz Tahira Tabassum, said, “The baby was born with cleft lip deformity in a poor nomad family and her parents were unable to bear the burden of her treatment and no efforts were made for the same.”

“Owing to this, she was unable to eat anything except milk, that, too, with difficulty. Her parents usually would not take her along for any social gathering to avoid being humiliated due to ugly marks,” Tabassum said.

“An Army officer saw the little girl while patrolling in the village and later, the Army sponsored her treatment. She was taken to the PGI Chandigarh for her first surgery, while the other surgery is pending,” she added.

“After the first surgery in the PGI, the girl recovered 80 per cent and is now able to eat and drink properly, but still a surgery is pending. The operation is only possible because of the support of the Army and we are also hoping their cooperation in next operation as well,” Nazakat Hussain, the father of the girl said.