KARACHI:Dr Aafia Siddiqui is a precious asset of the country and she should be released and given a chance to serve the nation and the country, said speakers at a gathering to celebrate the birthday of the daughter of the nation at the residence of Aafia family here Monday.
Speaking on the occasion, Aafia Movement Pakistan leader and noted neurophysician of the country Dr Fowzia Siddiqui said this is the 17th birthday of Aafia Siddiqui that she is observing in jail, where she is detained illegally, as she has committed no crime. She said now when enemies of past are struck truce and brokering deal to release thousands of prisoners, what is the logic of keeping Aafia Siddiqui in jail.
Dr Fowzia said Prime Minister Imran Khan and foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi should take serious efforts on Aafia case as now there is no hurdle in her release and repatriation. She said the ailing mother and innocent children of Aafia have suffered immense anguish, trouble and sorrow due to illegal detention of the Pakistani mother, which cannot be described in words. She said it is a sheer violation of basic human rights, women’s rights and mothers’ rights to keep Dr Aafia Siddiqui in jail.
She appealed to Prime Minister Imran Khan and foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to take up the matter of Dr Aafia detention officially with their counterparts in the US and ensure an early and respectable repatriation of the Pakistani mother.
Dr Aafia Siddiqui along with her three minor children was kidnapped from Karachi in 2003 while she was going to Islamabad and trafficked abroad along with her children. After five years of denial, finally her ‘arrest’ was shown from Afghanistan in 2008, and then she was swiftly shifted to the USA and tried in a US court, despite she was not a citizens of the US, but instead a citizen of Pakistan. Later, this US court by negating all norms of justice gave her a long sentence of 86 years in prison. Now she is in a solitary confinement in a US jail.
Dr Fowzia said that her sister Aafia is a world class educationalist and she should be given a chance to return home and serve the nation and country in the field of education.
However, Asmat Siddiqui, the mother of Aafia, Dr Fowzia Siddiqui and other members of Aafia family greeted the guests who visited their house on the occasion of Aafia birthday to express their solidarity.
Citizens who gathered there on the occasion showed disappointment that the government and its institutions are not taking serious efforts for an early release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui.
Programs, ceremonies and gatherings were held in different parts of the country also to celebrate the 48th birthday of Dr Aafia Siddiqui.