IHC Justice Sardar Aijaz Ishaq Khan asks MoFA officials to provide notes of meetings with Dr.  Aafia Siddiqui to her lawyers

ISLAMABAD, July 07 (SABAH):  Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday asked the officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to provide the notes of councilor meeting with Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to her lawyers, confidentially, by next Tuesday.

As per details, an IHC bench of Justice Sardar Aijaz Ishaq Khan heard the case of Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui (CP 3139/2015) seeking release of her sister Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui’s lawyer Imran Shafique appeared before the court while human rights attorney Clive Stafford Smith appeared via online.

During the last hearing a confidential declaration was submitted before the court. The court had ordered that the report and notes about the meetings and visitations of the Pakistani councilor with Dr. Aafia Siddiqui should be shared with her lawyers so that they can work on legal options about her health conditions and chances of her release. However, the MoFA officials failed to provide such notes and papers to the lawyers.

Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui’s lawyer said that the honorable court had ordered them to ink a non-disclosure agreement with the government so that sensitive information in the government papers, if any, could not be shared with public. However, the officials of MoFA during Friday hearing told the court that the matter of providing papers about meetings and visitations with Dr. Aafia Siddiqui as well as signing of non-disclosure agreement on the side of government is still under process. The court asked the MoFA to provide the required documents by coming Monday and in case of non-compliance it summoned the secretary of foreign affairs and secretary law on Thursday to tell the court what are the legal hindrances in this matter.

However, talking to media outside the court premises, Aafia Movement Pakistan leader and noted neurophysician of the country Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui said that when she met her sister Aafia in the US jail she told her that she had given messages for her mother to the Pakistani council general but sadly these messages were not shared with her mother. Every time the Pakistani officials lied with the Aafia family that she didn’t give them any message.

Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui said previous day she called upon Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif who assured that the foreign office would extend cooperation in the case of Aafia. He strongly direction the MoFA officials that no further negligence would be tolerated in this regard. Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui hoped that things were moving in the right direction and soon the nation would hear good news about Dr Aafia.

Talking to media on the occasion, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan said that the physical and mental health of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is not good; she has been languishing in one of the worst jail of USA, notorious for violation of human rights of prisoners. He said the key for release of Dr. Aafia is not in America but in Islamabad. He said if the government of Pakistan takes sincere efforts Dr. Aafia Siddiqui could be released not in years, months or weeks but within days.