Petition for Dr Afia's return: IHC directs Foreign, Interior ministries to submit replies

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Interior to submit replies pertaining to a petition pleading to bring Dr Afia Siddiqui back in Pakistan from America. Single member bench of Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam heard the petition of Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafferi against the detention of Dr Afia Siddiqui, and adjourned the hearing till February 25.
Dr Aafia's attorney, Javed Iqbal Jafferi arguing the case said that the government has yet not been successful in bringing back Dr Aafia home. The court should ask the government for taking up the case to world court, he added. Dr Afia Siddiqui had been missing for the last three years from Karachi with her three children.
She was believed to be held at Bagram jail in Afghanistan by American authorities. On August 5, the FBI suddenly produced Dr Siddiqui in a New York court to charge her for having links with al Qaeda and shooting at US officers in Afghanistan.
However, Dr Afia Siddiqui had refused all the US allegations levelled against her that she tried to kill US agents and military officers. Petitioner Barrister M Javed Iqbal Jafferi has made President Pervez Musharraf, former president Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, Nawaz Sharif, Interior Secretary and legal counsel of US Embassy as respondents in the petition. He said that Dr Afia's extradition to US was in violation of country's Constitution and international human rights laws.