Dr. Aafia Siddiqui case: Lawyer Imran Shafique says MOFA is not cooperating

ISLAMABAD, August 09 (SABAH): The lawyer of Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui, Advocate Imran Shafique said that the ministry of foreign affairs is not extending cooperation in the case of Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui about the release of her sister Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

Talking to media outside the court premises here Wednesday, Imran Shafique said during the hearing today the honorable judge asked the parties that they should not consider this case as a contest.

He said; however, the government of Pakistan through its conduct and behavior, sadly, has taken this case as a contest, instead of considering it as an issue of the whole nation. He said we have not only to fight this case in the court but also to face the hurdles created by the government ministries. He said during previous hearing the honorable court had clearly instructed the ministry of foreign affairs to share its reports and notes about the meetings of the representatives of the MOFA with Dr. Aafia Siddiqui confidentially with the lawyers of Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui and the American lawyer Clive Safford Smith who is fighting the case of Aafia Siddiqui in the US by July 24 but the MOA shared just a few papers that were also incomplete and provided no benefit in the case of Aafia Siddiqui.

He said Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui was scheduled to visit the USA on August 4 to meet her jailed sister but due to lack of cooperation from the government of Pakistan to ask the US government to facilitate the visit of Dr. Fowzia, her scheduled visit was cancelled. Lawyer Clive Safford Smith; however, managed to reach the US from the UK but he could not even meet his client satisfactorily due to administrative hurdles.

He said not only Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is suffering but also her sister Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui who have been fighting the case of her sister for the last 20 years.

He said that we have filed an application with the court and the honorable court has asked the government to file its reply by August 15.

However, Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui told the media that her sister is now thrown into a ‘hole’, which is a small jail cell with the worst condition. She said after meeting her sister last time after a long gap of 20 years, she told the media about the worsened conditions of Dr. Aafia and because of this now her sister is being punished in this ‘hole’. She asked why they are trying to kill her sister by putting her in a hole that is not even fit for living animals.  She asked why the government of Pakistan and its mission in Washington are not stopping these blatant human rights violations.