LAHORE: Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Siraj ul Haq has demanded of the government to take practical steps for the release or repatriation of Dr Aafia Siddiqui from the US prison.

“Islamabad should fully explore legal and diplomatic options to secure the release of neuroscientist Dr Aafia,” he said while addressing a press conference at JI Deputy Emir Mian Aslam’s residence on Tuesday on completion of 18 years of missing and then imprisonment of Dr Aafia.

The prime minister, he said, made repeated claims to bring Dr Aafia back to Pakistan but promises dissolved in the air like the others Mr Khan made with the nation. He said his demand for the release of the daughter of the nation was reflection of the feelings of millions of Pakistanis.

Sirajul Haq said Dr Aafia was not given fair trial opportunity in the United States and there were reports that she was tortured by the American forces in the prison. It was entirely a human rights issue and the government should take up this matter before the international court of justice. He announced the JI would itself knock the door of the international court if the government used further delaying tactics.

The JI, he said, fully backed the peace talks among Afghan groups and between Taliban and the Americans and had also welcomed the agreements between the two sides for release of prisoners. But, he regretted, Dr Aafia name was not mentioned in the agreement which was matter of grave concern for the Pakistani nation.

Since the US had announced withdrawal of its forces from Afghan soil before the end of this year, the government should raise issue of Dr Aafia release with the Biden administration.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021