IHC asks govt to protest with US on Dr. Aafia Siddiqui issue

ISLAMABAD, Dec 15 (SABAH): The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to protest with the US government over the issue of Pakistani woman Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) senior leader Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan talking to media outside the court premises after the hearing said today there were two positive developments. He said today the court ordered the government to protest with the US administration over sexual abuse of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui in the US prison. He said previously Dr. Aafia was also sexually abused in Bagram jail Afghanistan also under the US custody. He said this is very shameful and all governments of Pakistan during the last 20 years have adopted a shameful silence over this issue pertaining to a Pakistani woman.

He said the second development was that it was said that Dr. Aafia Siddiqui should be shifted from notorious FMC Carswell jail to some normal jail where she could be treated as a human being. He said in the FMC Carswell Dr. Aafia is facing physical, psychological and sexual torture and during her last meeting with her lawyer Clive Smith she cried that she should not be left at the mercy of sexual predators in this US jail. He said the court has also sought US jail laws about conduct with the prisoners.

He said according to his knowledge and some press reports, the name of Dr. Shakeel Afridi is taken out from the exit control list. He said he will move this issue in the Senate. He asked the government of Pakistan to tell which court of law tried Dr. Shakeel Afridi and what punishment was awarded to him, since when his name was put on the ECL and whether it is true that his name is removed or being removed from the ECL. He said this will be episode two of the Raymond David drama and we will not allow this to happen. He asked the government of Pakistan to stop slavery in the US.

He said when caretaker prime minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar was in the US, he had personality requested him to raise the issue of Dr. Aafia with the US government but he didn’t do it. He said I request Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir who is presently in the US to raise the issue of Dr. Aafia with his US counterparts and take effort to get it resolved.

However, lawyer Imran Shafique said that the lawyer of Aafia wants to submit a working paper on the issue of Dr. Aafia. He said the court has asked that this working paper when submitted should be shared with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs so that ways and means should be discussed for release of Dr. Aafia in the light of what legal remedies were applied by the other countries to seek release of their citizens from US jails.