Karachi:Aafia Movement of Pakistan (AMP) leader and noted neuro-physician of the country Dr Fowzia Siddiqui has hoped that the voice of peace-loving democratic people and civil societies at national and global level would soon result in the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui and other innocent people, who are in jails for no crime committed by them.
Addressing an online conference entitled ‘Break the silence’ on completion of first ten years of Coalition for Civil Freedoms, a forum to defend innocent victims of the American war on terror, she said on behalf of Pakistan she is giving a message of peace to whole world. She said she is the part of the Coalition for Civil Freedoms because her own sister Dr Aafia Siddiqui has been suffering inhuman cruelties in detention for long just because misinformation was spread against her during the so-called war on terror.
She said the truth is that Dr Aafia Siddiqui has nothing to do with allegation leveled against her. She is an honorable Muslim lady, a mother of three children, who earned a PhD degree in education from the USA. She got her higher education from the respected institutions like the Brandeis University and MIT. However, she was made a victim of the war on terror and kidnapped from a street of Karachi along with her three minor children, 17 years ago. At that time her youngest child, Suleman, was just six months old and it is feared that he is murdered by the kidnappers.
Dr Fowzia said due to the efforts of civil rights defenders, Dr Aafia was found in a torture cell of Afghanistan, where was dubbed as ‘Prisoner number 650’. When this news was broke, Aafia was hurriedly shifted from Afghanistan jail to the United States of America without any legal procedure, where 10 years ago she was given a jail term of 86 years on allegation of firing on some American soldiers, who in fact had opened firing on her in which she was critically injured. There were no fingerprints of Aafia found on the rifle, but still she was given this long jail sentence by an American court. For five years the children of Aafia remained missing and later two of her children were freed and the third is still missing.
Dr Fowzia said the family has no communication with Aafia. It is not receiving telephone calls or letters from Aafia. The family believes that Aafia is still braving inhuman treatment and brutal torture in American jail.
Fowzia said we are fighting for civil liberties and freedoms as we want that no other person should endeavor the injustice meted out to Dr Aafia Siddiqui. She said we want uphold of law and justice in whole world.
However, a large number of the victims of illegal detentions and their families from all over the world took part in the online conference. Majority of them were Muslims. Dr Fowzia Siddiqui from the banner of Aafia Movement of Pakistan, represented Pakistan in this moot, says a release here Tuesday.