Aafia Siddiqui release: Visit of Pakistan delegation in doldrums as US administration doesn’t respond to MoFA letters, IHC told
ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (SABAH): Islamabad High Court (IHC) was told on Friday that the visit of the Pakistan delegation to the US seems imperiled because the White House/State Department/ Department of Justice have not responded to the letters of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) requesting urgent scheduling of the meetings at the White House and other official departments.
As per details, the single bench of IHC comprising Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan on Friday heard the writ petition no.3139/2015 of Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui against the Federation of Pakistan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and others.
Imran Shafique, advocate for the petitioner appeared before the court. The petitioner appeared in person through video link. Clive A Stafford Smith also appeared through video link. Zainab Janjua, advocate/ amicus, Barrister Munawwar Iqbal Duggal, Additional Attorney General along with Yasir Arfat Abbasi, AAG, Muhammad Hamza, Assistant Director-US, MoFA were also present.
The court order said: Per the latest declaration filed by Mr. Smith, and based on the submissions by the learned amicus and the petitioner’s counsel, the Pakistan delegation’s visit seems imperiled because the White House/ State Department/ Department of Justice have not responded to MoFA’s letters requesting urgent scheduling of the meetings at the White House and other official departments.
The dilemma that the delegation now faces is whether they should pay for this visit out of their own pocket or whether it will be funded by the Government. The Government’s stance is that it will be funded if it is an official visit but the “codal formalities” do not enable funding the visit if it is not marked as “official” per the regular norms.
“The Government’s stance, I say with respect, appears paradoxical. On the one hand they are prepared to incur the expenses in the earnest expectation that the delegation will be able to hold the desired meetings at the White House/ State Department/ Department of Justice, while on the other hand they say that, if the delegation turns up in the US on their non-official visas, which they currently have, in order to not lose any further time in the expectation that those meetings will indeed materialize, it would still not pay those expenses because the visit was undertaken by the members of the delegation on their non-official visas. This stance appears fit for a script of a comic novel, but does not seem to be rational if there is a genuine underlying intent and commitment that the government has to throw its weight and resources behind the cause. Accordingly, MoFA is directed to move immediately a summary before the Prime Minister for the worthy Prime Minister to consider whether this stance of the Government is rational, and whether his discretionary powers for sanctioning such expenditure could be properly exercised in these circumstances. This summary should be moved by MoFA within the next 24 hours”.
“The other conundrum Dr. Fowzia and Dr. Iqbal as members of this delegation face is that their passports have been sent to the U.S. Embassy for the official visas but they need those passports back for them to be able to travel tomorrow on the flights they have already booked”.
“In the worst case scenario, Dr. Fowzia says that she would end up bearing her own expenses and that of Dr. Iqbal, in the same way that she has been all along using her personal resources at great expense to herself, and in such case she, Dr. Iqbal, and such Pakistani Americans who care to join them for the call at the White House and other State Department offices would have to settle for that, but that of course means that, despite the avowed intention of the Government expressed in the Court and in the letter of the Prime Minister, the Government’s delegation as intended will not materialize due to the Government nominated members of the Parliament not showing up at that meeting as originally declared by the Government, and whether that degree of embarrassment can be measured in financial terms of the travel costs of the four members of the delegation”.
“Mr. Hamza for MoFA says that he would leave no stone unturned in his efforts to retrieve the passports today and, if not today, then latest by the coming Monday.” The case was relisted for 02.12.2024 at 10:00 AM.
However, Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui submitted that during last 20 years she has not taken any fund from the government. She said she is ready to bear the expenses of this US visit from her pocket; however, due to delays on the part of the government expenses of tickets and other matters are getting costlier.
She said that the real issue is that the Pakistani embassy in the US should facilitate this visit. She said when the Prime Minister has written the letter for release of Dr. Aafia the government machinery should also take proper efforts. She said some experienced member should be included in the delegation and all bottlenecks should be removed.