Pakistan fails to convince US for Dr Aafia’s release, admits Ishaq Dar.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar accepted on Tuesday that the efforts made by the government to convince the US government for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s pardon have failed so far.
He said this while addressing an international conference.
He said Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had also written a letter to US President Joe Biden, seeking her pardon on humanitarian grounds.
He revealed that a three-member committee has now been formed to meet with US parliamentarians to lobby for her pardon, release, and repatriation to Pakistan.
PM writes to US president
Earlier, the PM wrote to the US president seeking clemency for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, who has been languishing in American detention for years.
It was revealed when Islamabad High Court’s Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan was hearing a petition filed by Fauzia Siddiqui seeking Dr. Aafia’s release from an American prison and her repatriation.
Additional Attorney General Manzoor Iqbal appeared in court.
Sexual assault on Dr Aafia
Earlier this year, Dr. Aafia’s attorney, Clive Stafford Smith, revealed that his client continued to suffer sexual assault at the Fort Worth, Texas, jail.
The American council representing the Pakistani national—who is serving an 86-year sentence—had reported that Siddiqui continued to face ongoing sexual harassment, including a recent incident two weeks ago where a security guard allegedly raped her as punishment.
After meeting with Dr. Aafia, Stafford Smith said sexual abuse had not stopped so far and that she was being consistently subjected to physical harassment.
Aafia Siddiqui is a Pakistani national who is serving an 86-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell, in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, for attempted murder and other felonies. Siddiqui was born in Pakistan to a Sunni Muslim family.
