IHC judge Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaque asks under which authority Dr. Aafia & her children were handed over to America agencies
ISLAMABAD, August 26 (SABAH): A single bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) comprising Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaque Khan on Monday asked under which authority Dr. Aafia Siddiqui along with her children was handed over to American agencies.
The lawyer of Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui, Advocate Imran Shafique told media after the hearing of the case Monday that today’s hearing was very important as the honourable judge asked about some basic questions. He said the American lawyer of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, Clive Smith had filed a declaration about the clemency motion in the US courts to seek the release of Aafia on humanitarian ground in which he mentioned all basic facts about the kidnapping of Aafia and her children and handing them to USA.
He said that as per the declaration Aafia Siddiqui and her children were handed to the US agencies by the Sindh government and ISI. He said that the court told the deputy attorney general and officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) that these questions are raised in the declaration and the court can’t keep its eyes closed on these issues. He asked why the court should not issue order to initiate an inquiry on the questions raised in the declaration and seek a report on this matter from the DG ISI and ask him what were the evidences with them on the basis which it was decided to kidnap Dr. Aafia Siddiqui along with her children and hand them over to the US agencies. He asked even if they had such solid evidences, had they any authority under any law to hand over Aafia and her children to the US agencies.
Imran Shafique said the IHC had given the government four weeks’ time to decide about a multilateral agreement with the US about repartition of prisoners. He said the government officials told the court that the government has decided to ink a bilateral agreement with the US but talks in this regard with the US government are not yet initiated.
He said the court was told by Advocate Janjua that a hurdle in repartition of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is that when a clemency motion is moved in this regard it is said that as Dr. Aafia was handed over to the US by the Pakistani government so such process would be legal.
However, Jamaat-e-Isalmi leader former senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan told the media that Aafia and her children were illegally handed over to the American agencies by the government of Pakistan. Then they were illegally shifted to Afghanistan and from where they were again illegally shifted to New York when a US court illegally sentenced Aafia to jail. He said the third kidnapped child of Aafia, Salman, is still missing. He should be recovered immediately. He said the key to the release of Aafia is present in Islamabad but our own government doesn’t want the release of Aafia. He said if the government of Pakistan formally lodges a petition to seek the release of Aafia on humanitarian grounds she could be released within a few days. He demanded from the government to take serious steps for an early release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.