Govt may enter multilateral extradition protocol

Govt rejects the impression that signing an extradition treaty for Dr Aafia might give US access to Dr AQ Khan.

ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday hinted at entering into a multilateral extradition protocol for Dr Aafia Siddiqi’s repatriation but rejected the impression that it would enable the US to demand the extradition of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan.

“Siddiqi may be brought back to Pakistan as a prisoner if we sign one of the two international conventions (offered by the US),” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the National Assembly.

Malik rejected the notion that signing an extradition treaty might give US access to Khan. “There is no [such] problem of an extradition treaty. It is just two conventions and if we sign one of them, we will be able to bring Siddiqi back, but as a prisoner.”

However, he said, Siddiqi’s sister Dr Fauzia Siddiqi has declined and opted for another strategy. “Her (Dr Aafia) family has shown confidence in a group of US lawyers who have been issued visas to discuss the case this weekend. The US has been requested to allow Dr Aafia to contact her family members,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2010.