Legal representatives of Dr. Aafia express their horror at the position taken by Pakistan govt with respect to prisoner labeled the ‘Daughter of the Nation’
ISLAMABAD, March 21 (SABAH): The legal representatives of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui on Friday expressed their horror at the position taken by the Pakistan government with respect to the prisoner labeled the “Daughter of the Nation.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs argued in the Islamabad High Court that all proceedings should be dismissed because they (MOFA) have done enough for Dr. Aafia. They argued this despite the fact that Dr. Aafia faces daily sexual assault in FMC Carwell. Is denied any medical care at all unless she submits to stripping naked. Is denied competent medical care regardless of what she does. Is denied access even during Ramadan to the respected Imam Omar Suleiman who volunteers to act as her spiritual advisor.
Continues to be held under an 86-year sentence despite evidence of her innocence.
MOFA’s sorry excuse for arguing that they can do no more is that they have arranged some consular visits, they helped get Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui a visa, they cooperated in getting Dr. Iqbal Afridi in to see Aafia, and the Prime Minister wrote a letter to President Biden. See MOFA Application for Disposal of the Tilted [sic] Writ Petition on Account of Having Become Fructified (the typographical error is in MOFA’s original; “fructified” is a pompous legal word that means it has borne all the fruit that can ever be expected – and that they should be excused of any further duty to her in this petition). This, despite the failure of the Houston Consulate to take any meaningful action about the sexual assaults, Dr. Afridi filing a report detailing the urgent need to get Aafia medical attention, in response to which MOFA has done nothing, and MOFA taking no action on the diplomatic insult by Biden in failing even to reply to the PM’s letter.
“It seems that the government has problems with judges who do their job,” said Imran Shafiq, IHC counsel for Dr. Fowzia. “But MOFA appears to be ignoring the fact that they playing games with Aafia’s life, and leaving the most oppressed of all Pakistani women to face daily abuse, while they enjoy the blessed month of Ramadan, and look forward to Eid. It is shocking!”
“I cannot imagine what has got into the minds of the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Are they so desperate to try to buy favour with the US government that they have decided to betray the most wronged woman in the world?” said her pro bono US counsel, Clive Stafford Smith OBE. “President Trump does not respect such pathetic weakness. I am going to the US on Wednesday, and we will continue to work night and day for her, without expectation of payment, even if her democratic representatives are intent on committing such a sin during Ramadan.”
“I am very sad that MOFA has delayed everything for so long that my mother did not live to see Aafia come home. We asked MOFA to confirm that Shehbaz Sharif agrees with the shocking position that they have taken because I, for one, find it hard to believe that the Prime Minister, who has been such a support to Aafia, would do this,” said her sister, Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui. “They have not confirmed this one way or the other, from which we can draw our own conclusion. I hope he expeditiously puts MOFA back in their box, and tells them to fulfill their duty to my sister.”
“I suffer daily in the hell that is FMC Carswell, being sexually assaulted and tortured. I just hope my government remembers what I am going through, though I will depend on my God,” said Aafia in an earlier statement.