ISLAMABAD: The Additional Attorney General (AAG), Friday, informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that the government has decided to send a delegation to the US for release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui currently confined in an American prison.

The AAG appraised that to a single bench of IHC comprising Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan during the hearing of the constitutional petition of Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui who moved the court through her lawyer Imran Shafiq advocate. He stated that the delegation would include former and current parliamentarians, senators, retired or active military officials, doctors, and Fauzia Siddiqui.

A representative from the Foreign Ministry informed the court that the ministry has shared a proposal for a Prisoner Transfer Agreement (PTA) with the US.

During the hearing, Zainab Janjua advocate stated that Dr. Fauzia also requested a medical check-up for Aafia Siddiqui; while the government’s lawyer informed that the prime minister has approved sending the delegation to the US.

Justice Ejaz asked what the Foreign Ministry could do and when a response regarding the PTA would come. The Foreign Ministry representative stated that a response might be received soon. Zainab Janjua emphasized that Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui and the family requested doctors be sent from Pakistan for Aafia Siddiqui. Later, the bench deferred the hearing until next week.

Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also wrote a letter requesting US President Joe Biden to release Dr. Aafia Siddiqui on humanitarian grounds. In his letter to Biden, Shehbaz stated that I am writing this letter to you, President, to seek your kind intervention in a matter that deserves to be viewed with compassion. He added, “I am referring to the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani citizen who has been incarcerated at FMC Carswell since September 2010. Dr. Siddiqui is serving an eighty-six (86) year sentence, without the possibility of parole, imposed by the Southern District Court of New York. Now 52 years old, she has spent approximately sixteen years behind bars in the U.S.”

PM Shehbaz further said that keeping these facts in view, I request you, Mr. President, to kindly exercise your constitutional authority and accept Dr. Siddiqui’s clemency petition and order her release, strictly on humanitarian grounds.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024