Latest news with #Aafia
Business Recorder
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Recorder
Release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui: IHC allows Dr Fowzia to amend her petition
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) allowed Dr Fowzia Siddiqui for amendment in her petition seeking release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui. A single bench of Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan on Friday heard the constitutional petition of Dr Fowzia Siddiqui who moved the court through her lawyer Imran Shafiq Advocate and sought release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui currently confined in an American prison. Amicus Zainab Janjua also appeared before the court. During the hearing, the IHC bench accepted the application of the lawyer of Dr Fowzia Siddiqui, Advocate Imran Shafique, for allowing amendment in the petition and instructed him to file the amended petition within a week. The additional attorney general requested the court to dispose of the petition, saying that the government has already done in this case what it could do. The court; however, asked that why the government wanted to get this petition disposed of. It asked what benefit it would give to the government. The bench observed that the Aafia case has already become a movement and it is a long struggle. Justice Ishaq added that the problem could not be resolved by just ending this case. The court further observed that the government has taken all the steps regarding Dr Aafia only because of this case. The judge said that the US visa was granted to Dr Fowzia Siddiqui because of the directions of this court, and also the prime minister wrote a letter for Dr Aafia. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
The nation's daughter
We call her the daughter of our nation, yet Aafia Siddiqui has become a symbol of our deepest failure. A Pakistani citizen abducted, disappeared and sentenced in a sham trial to 86 years in a US prison, Aafia remains imprisoned at FMC Carswell, where she has endured years of abuse, degradation and neglect. The Pakistani government has long professed to champion her cause but now, in a shocking turn, Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared before the Islamabad High Court that it has done 'enough' for Aafia and that her legal battle must end. All this despite the fact that Aafia faces sexual assault daily, is denied medical care, and is blocked from meeting with an imam even during Ramazan. This is not injustice — this is abandonment. The US Consulate in Houston refuses to act on Aafia's reports of abuse. Pakistani officials have ignored medical records that detail her suffering. Even the Pakistani Prime Minister's letter was met with silence from President Joe Biden of the US. One glaring example of the government's inability to act is its claim that a prisoner swap is impossible due to the absence of a legal framework between Pakistan and the US. Prisoner swaps are political decisions. The US has made such exchanges with adversaries like Russia and Iran, and Pakistan can surely take advantage of its leverage. Last year, Aafia's legal team filed a lawsuit exposing the constitutional violations Aafia has suffered through. The Pakistan government has not filed a single document in her defence — not even an amicus brief against sexual assault, medical neglect or religious suppression. Even obtaining her inmate account, crucial to proving her indigency, has become a legal battle the Pakistan government refuses to join. Aafia has spent over 5,000 days in prison for crimes she did not commit. The evidence of her innocence continues to grow. We must not abandon her to die in silence. Maria Kari USA
