Dr Aafia’s detention up to US: PML-N leader
PML-N’s leader of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) chapter Raja Farooq Haider Khan said on Saturday that since Dr Aafia Siddiqi is a US citizen, the decision of her life imprisonment is ultimately up to America.
Addressing a press conference at the Kashmir Press Club, Khan, who is also a former prime minister of AJK, said that “those seeking her release should also raise a voice against the rape and torture of women by troops in Indian-held Kashmir.”
He criticised journalists who attacked Marvi Memon for calling Dr Aafia a terrorist. Memon recently quit PML-Q to join Nawaz Sharif’s faction.
Khan, who is the leader of the opposition in the AJK Legislative Assembly, said religious leaders of the area should raise a voice against the oppression on innocent women by Indian security forces in Kashmir.
Not a friendly opposition
Khan alleged that some elements were trying to oust AJK’s Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed of the PPP. “We will not allow for any sort of in-house change that could lead to the removal of the prime minister.”
He, however, said that the opposition would continue to voice concerns against any unhealthy policies of the AJK government. He snubbed the impression that PML-N was a ‘friendly opposition’ saying that it still believed last year’s general elections were not fair and transparent.
Demanding local bodies’ elections immediately, Khan said calling for early polls was PML-N’s manifesto. He said his party would also raise the issue in the upcoming session of the AJK’s Legislative Assembly.
Khan informed that his party’s chief Nawaz Sharif will visit Mirpur on April 5, to address a rally on the eve of the founding anniversary of PML-N’s AJK chapter. “Reorganisation (of the party) in AJK is in full swing and it is all set to emerge as the single largest political force of the region.” AJK law makers belonging to PML-N, including Ch Tariq Farooq, Shoukat Ali Shah, former minister Ch Rukhsar Ahmed and PML-N’s Mirpur leader Ch Muhammad Saeed were also present on the occasion.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2012.
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@waqas: Not only stupid but cruel, sadistic laws made by criminals and supported by the people with mass hysteria. Where this country is sliding, definitely into a black hole.
woww everyone wants aafia to be released coz she is a muslim, if she was a christian would u guys demands that too? Look at Asia Bibi who is in jail for no reason due to the stupid blasphemy laws!
But her original husband said 'don't release her'.
We are forgetting that while Afia was under trial she her self showed her faith on the jury and said that i would abide by the decision made by the court. Since media is with her she is in the limelight. We have many Afias even in Pakistan who face not only physical and mental torture but lose their honour too. Who is in the villages to raise their voice. Who is too bold to stand against the Waderas, Ghundas and Police???? So they are aunts, flies, insects and not a human being.
It would be more appropriate to say that she is a Pakistani citizen and your govt has no agreement with the USA that would permit her to serve her time inside Pakistan. It's interesting to note that the "daughter of Pakistan" who was once the poster child of American abuse has somehow magically become an American citizen - something you won't read anyplace outside of Pakistan. The reality is that she is a Pakistan citizen and that after spending millions on her defence it has become abundantly clear that she isn't an innocent darling.
Afia Siddiqui is a Pakistani citizen. But what can one say about the 'friendly opposition' to the government.
What is 'friendly opposition'? Sharing the loot equally? Even slaves have self respect but these leaders did not.
The American citizen Dr Aafia Siddiqui is not daughter of Pakistan. Period.
Stop poking into kashmir affairs. Pl attend to the forced conversion of sindhi girls.