14-day notice to ministries: Court presses on whereabouts of Dr Aafia’s missing son
The Sindh High Court has granted the foreign affairs and interior ministries two weeks to inform it about the whereabouts of the missing son of neuroscientist Dr Afia Siddiqui and how he was granted an American citizenship.
“In case, no reply is received, we would be compelled to direct the attendance of the secretaries concerned on the next date,” warned the division bench, irked by the failure of the two ministries to file a reply to the court’s queries.
Headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam, the bench was hearing a petition seeking the direction of the government to provide legal assistance to Dr Siddiqui, who stood trial in US on charges of shooting at FBI agents and soldiers at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan, her repatriation and the recovery of her children.
Muhammad Iqbal Aqeel, the lawyer representing the petitioner, submitted that Dr Sidiqui, along with her children Ahmed, aged 11, Salman, aged 6, and daughter Mariam, aged 8, was kidnapped in a surreptitious operation by law enforcement agencies in Karachi.
“After the hue and cry made in the media, Dr Aafia was detected in Afghanistan and on international pressure, she was tried for an offence she had never committed,” Aqeel stated.
He said that initially her children were also not traceable and on persistent follow-ups, Mariam was found outside the family house and Ahmed was handed over to his grandmother.
“Whereas one son, Salman, is untraceable and his whereabouts are still not ascertained,” he added.
The judges observed that the court raised two queries as to how Salman was extended American citizenship, which had not yet been answered by the foreign affairs ministry, and what his whereabouts were.
“It is very unfortunate that in terms of Article 4 of the Constitution, it is an inalienable right of every citizen of Pakistan to enjoy protection of the law and to be tried in accordance with the law wherever he may be,” CJ Alam said.
“Such protection clearly extends beyond the territorial limits of Pakistan and the embassies of Pakistan situated in Afghanistan and America are obliged to ensure such protection to the citizens of Pakistan,” he added.
The bench noted that the queries were to be answered by the foreign affairs and interior ministries, and ordered the court office to forward a copy of the order to both the ministries to respond in two weeks.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 24th, 2012.
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Dr. Aafia is NOT a terrorist or a foreigner! She is a pakistani neuroscience Doctor who did her studies from MIT and mother of three. She was kidnapped in 2003 along with her children. And, subject to huge deals of torture and harassment and one of her children only 6 months old was killed in the process! She was then found to be in Bagram Air base prison in 2008 because she was a victim of american aggression for NO fault of her own and as a result they tried to hide all evidences of her being kidnapped although this fact later was proven and undeniable! She had no links with terrorism and this was proven by the fact that the highly biased court in new york did not file any terrorism related case against her this is despite the fact that the jury was all highly biased against her! And, Raymond davis is the real foreigner who had KILLED 2 Pakistanis! Yet he is now freely roaming around, he is the terrorist who should have been sent to jail and hanged and NOT Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, get your facts straight!!
@Cautious: Dear Cautious, If Dr Siddiqui was such an important person of interest to the various intelligence agencies one would presume that they should have taken some interest in her children's welfare, after she was abducted by doubtful people who have not been named. It has become quite apparent that this did not happen. It has required a petition to the Sindh High Court to get things moving. It is reassuring to note that there are some aspects of Pakistan society which are prepared to stand up for peoples rights and well being. It is quite apparent that some sections of the Pakistan Government are somewhat slack. The whole incident has been one of vague assertions, and this obviously extended to the children. We really need to stop the vagueness, which has damaged so many lives. Dr. Siddiqui may never get a fair trial, but let us ensure that the children are OK without placing them under too much stress.
As usual the US were up to their usual tricks of pretending to extend justice, in regard to Dr. Afia Siddiqui, but implementing just the reverse. Without definite proof there does not seem to be any doubt that Dr. Siddiqui suffered from abduction, rendition and subsequent torture at the American Bagram detention center. I say definite proof because the US is concealing the truth, will not reveal what they did and all anybody can come up with is conjecture. However, their does appear to be sufficient information to deduce that Dr. Siddiqui was picked up by security people, because her husbands uncle gave her name after being severely tortured. He was water boarded 183 times in one month. Also Dr. Siddiqui was called the "Grey Lady of Bagram". She was heard screaming at night whilst being tortured. She went to trial because her torturers accused her of attempting to kill them. At the subsequent kangaroo court trial in New York Dr. Siddiqui was found guilty and sentenced to 86 years in prison. At no time has Dr. Siddiqui been charged or prosecuted for terrorism related offences. During the trial no scientific or forensic evidence was produced by the Prosecution. It is quite evident that it was a trial designed to find Dr. Siddiqui guilty, and the Americans were determined not to let the truth get in their way.
What a waste of time. Judiciary is more into Politice than dispensing justice. Do they have the legal course for over_ruling the decision of Judiciary of another country. Millions of cases are piled up in the courts. They are requested to do their duty.Those who are waiting and their cases are in que should be heard first. They should not do the injustice of pick and choose.
Suggest the Sindh High Court use Google or go to the library rather than order the FO about. Aafia's son is a US Citizen because his father was a US Citizen and in the USA both parents don't have to be citizens so long as one parent meets certain requirements. Who gets USA citizenship is determined by US law - not Pakistan preference. As to location -- there are numerous articles which indicate Aafia's sister was taking care of the kid -- since when has the FO become an investigative body searching for missing persons in Pakistan?
Children are the most to suffer due to evil deeds of their parents. Unfortunately for that kid, his mother didn't turn out to be an ideal mother. Instead of concentrating on his well being, she opted for a marriage with a Yemeni extremist (not sure what he was doing in Pakistan), and networked with the likes of Khalid Sheikh Mohamed. She met her fate, but alas she ruined the future of the poor kid. How shameful!
@Striver: Seems like you are ignorant of the facts at best. And I don't blame you, as the Pakistani media (or the people in the media) willfully distort or block relevant information. In her case, she created a lot of drama in the court, demonstrating glorification of such acts, with no signs of remorse. The verdict was obvious. Of course, it was not a Pakistani court, in which case she would have walked free even if she had admitted the murder of 70 innocents.
The jury the decided Dr. Afia's fate need to be questioned as to the whereabouts of their conscience.
If they could not see that she was guilty that I can only assume that prosectors put very limited facts before the jury and the denfence was weak.
The defence was weak perhaps because they did not have enough resources to carry out an independent investigation.
Furthermore, in a country in which the media and the political classes have created such an unreal and repugnant image of Muslims, can the jury of the country be said to be truely fair to a Muslim suspect of terrorism, especially if she has links with Pakistan?
This is a MISCARRAGE OF JUSTICE. Pakistan government equally implicit in it as the judge and jury in USA.