The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ishaq Dar, on Saturday that his comments in the United States on the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui were being “taken from context” following the criticism of his lawyer’s comments.
FM Dar is currently on a visit to the United States. Dar spoke on the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, a day ago, during which he had drawn a parallel with the case of Dr. Aafia, who has spent years in an American prison, when he answered a question about the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan.
He pointed out that Pakistan did not interfere in that process because “the Americans had followed their judicial system.” Similarly, he said, Imran was sentenced by the Judicial Power of Pakistan, which followed the due legal process. “When due process is followed, others have no right to interfere,” he said.
Dr. Aafia, neuroscientist and educator, was convicted of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for positions of attempted murder of US personnel in Afghanistan and has been fulfilling its sentence at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in the USA since 2010.
FM Dar’s comments were criticized by their lawyer for being “idiot.”
Subsequently, an FM post in X said: “Yesterday, in response to a question about the case of Imran Khan in the group of experts of the Atlantic Council in Washington, the reference to the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is being removed from context. During the holdings of the PML-N governments, we have consistently provided all diplomatic and legal assists for the release of the release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, and what we will continue, and we will continue with liberation.
He said that each country had its judicial and legal procedures, which should be respected, either Pakistan or the United States.
“The position of our government on the issue of the liberation of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is clear and unequivocal.”
Responding to the comments of giving earlier in the day, Dr. Aafia’s lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith Obe, said: “Sorry, but this is idiot! ‘The due process’ is not equal to something where Aafia had no witnesses, they lied and everything was false. That is called a spontaneous abortion of justice, not what ‘due’.”
Giving “seemed to be doing everything possible to undermine the case of Aafia yesterday acting as if it had ‘due process’ when everything you received was torture and a trial in New York when all the real witnesses were in Afghanistan,” he said in a separate position in X.
Talking with Dawn.comSmith said: “As you have seen in Prime Minister’s statement, he was trying to justify what is happening to Imran Khan using the Aafia Siddiqui case, saying that his case is the result of the ‘due process of law’ in the United States and, therefore, is only something that a judge can deal with.
“He continues to say that he disagrees with a legal verdict against him does not give Imran Khan the right to cause people to dissent, which must be done through the courts.”
Smith said that, in his opinion, “I suspect that we can all disagree with what he is saying: in all the dozens of people I have exonerated in the United States, I have used advertising to help force the system to correct their mistakes, and obviously, in the case of Aafia, I also tried to do it through the process of clemency with drum.”
He said that FM’s analogy was “reckless and out of place.”
On the imprisonment and legal problems of the founder of PTI, he said: “I suspect that many people will not agree with the notion that Imran Khan has received anything that approaches due to the due process of law” in cases against him, as we can agree that Aafia is where today it is due to the criminal actions of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), together with others, instead of any of the due.
He added that FM Dar should not talk about the case of Dr. Aafia in the context of Imran cases.
“In each case, Pakistan officials must tow the consistent line, established in the excellent letter from Shehbaz Sharif to Joe Biden, who, regardless of what you think, Aafia has suffered enough,” added Aafia’s lawyer.
He added that he was very optimistic that Pakistan would continue with the efforts to ensure the launch of Dr. Aafia.
Speaking about the circumstances of his judgment, Smith said: “The defense did not bring witnesses to New York, or one.
“The Prosecutor’s Office brought to the people who wanted, soldiers who tried unsuccessfully to tell the same story, and an Afghan interpreter who promised him the residence of the United States and gave him a substantial amount of money.”
He said that physical evidence solidly refuted the theory of the Prosecutor’s Office, even then, but before the trial, the defense did not locate the video tape that resulted beyond the argument that the holes on the wall were not the shooting of Dr. Aafia, since they were earlier that day.
“I have promised to present its appeal in New York in the next week or ten days,” said Smith.
A day ago, Prime Minister Shehbaz had assured Dr. Fouzia Siddiqui that the Government would continue to provide all possible legal and diplomatic support in her sister’s issue.
On July 12, the Superior Court of Islamabad (IHC) had expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the federal government did not present a report in the case related to the liberation, health and repatriation of Dr. Aafia, with Judge Ishaq threatening to “convene the entire cabinet” if the report was not presented. IHC judge, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq, on July 21 had issued a contempt notice to the federal government, including prime minister and all ministers, for refusing to present an Amicus report to support the case of Dr. Aafia in the United States.
However, the IHC Registry Office had put on Wednesday the processing of contempt notices to the Court issued to Prime Minister Shehbaz and the members of his cabinet when the treatment personnel decided to determine his validity first.
In February, the IHC was told that the proposal to exchange Shakil Afridi for Dr. Aafia was unfeasible. The law officer representing the federal government informed the court that Smith had suggested the exchange, but Pakistan and the United States had no agreement for such exchange.
Last year, in October, Prime Minister Shehbaz had requested that Biden Pardon and free Dr. Aafia from prison.
In a letter dated October 13, the prime minister expressed concern about the “fragile mental and fragile physical health” of Dr. Aafia while in prison. “Now, 52, he has turned 16 after bars in the United States.
“Numerous Pakistani officials have made consular visits to Dr. Siddiqui … All of them have expressed their serious concerns about the treatment he has received,” said the letter. “In fact, they fear that she can take her life.”
Consequently, the United States Department of State declined to comment on the letter written by Prime Minister Shehbaz to the Biden Administration.
