Daily Times

KARACHI: Leaders of different political parties and civil society demanded the government of Pakistan to move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the issue of detention of noted Pakistani female scientist and educationalist Dr Aafia Siddiqui.

Addressing a crowded press conference at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) in Karachi on Wednesday, the participants regretted that the government of Pakistan is not showing seriousness in resolving the Aafia issue.

They said it should learn from the government of India that they even raised the issue of a proven spy and terrorist Kulbhushan Yadav to the ICJ, though there was not even a moral ground to defend such a hardened criminals case.

Aam Log Alliance Co-Chairman Justice (retd) Wajihuddin Ahmed, while addressing the press conference, said the new issue of the Indian spy raised at the ICJ has increased the importance of Aafia case. She was accused of attacking American soldiers who in fact remained unscathed. Later, she was shifted from Afghanistan to the USA, where after an unfair trial she was sentenced 86 years imprisonment which is tantamount to the capital punishment. He said we do not know if she is not alive or dead.

He said the new development shows that the cases of innocent people could be raised at the ICJ level.

Ahmed said efforts on diplomatic level should be taken so that Aafia spends the rest of her sentence period in Pakistan, and at least her family could meet her adding that the Aafia case could also be raised in a European court.

He suggested that the Aafia Movement Pakistan and government of Pakistan should set up their legal teams in this issue. He offered his services for this cause, voluntarily.

Aafia Movement Pakistan leader Dr Fowzia Siddiqui said: “When America arrested an Indian woman Devyani Khobragade guilty of crime, India protested at all levels, political and diplomatic, Indian councilor exercised the Vienna convention to fullest extent. India joined the inter-American convention and brought not only her home, but other prisoners as well. To note this was the same convention that Sindh high court had ordered for Aafia’s repatriation.

The US had to comply because sovereign Nations that stand for their citizens are respected and taken seriously.”

She said again when Kalbhushan Yadav is prosecuted in Pakistan India protests to the fullest despite the fact that he is treacherous murderer who has confessed to his crimes.

“America also uses the Vienna convention whenever its citizen is in need.

Raymond Davis a cold blooded murderer was demanded through all political and diplomatic channels, and returned a free man, though there was no true legal way for him to be free. Likewise many American prisoners have been set free by Pakistani personnel for miserable sums of money, without due process but when it comes to taking their own innocent daughter back all hurdles seem magnified.”

She said every moment a person is in a foreign prison America and all sovereign countries cite the Vienna convention Article 36 and provide their citizens full access and assistance and keep a close eye to the treatment emitted to them. She said India is defending his citizen despite fully knowing that he is a criminal, but the Pakistani government is too weak to defend an innocent citizen.

Fowzia said Aafia was abducted from Pakistan and rendered to Afghanistan our leaders in complicity, the US and Afghans violated the Vienna convention article 36 on consular relations but our leaders remained numb. Also they did not exert their rights under the Vienna convention to protect Aafia and get her back.

In 2008 the US court ruled that the US was bound by treaty to follow the ICJ as a matter of international law. But Pakistan did not go to ICJ to repatriate an innocent daughter of Pakistan. Our authorities kept denying jurisdiction.

It is a shame and blackening stigma on Pakistan that all countries fight for their citizens yet this country remains silent in a defeatist attitude due to which no Pakistani is safe, she said.

Jamaat e Islami (JI) vice ameer Asadullah Bhutto said that the prime minister should fulfill his promise with the mother of Aafia before coming into power that they he would play a role in release of Aafia. He said the whole world knows that Aafia is innocent, adding it is a duty of the government and whole nation to play their respective roles in the release of the Pakistani mother. He reiterated that Aafia had faced a lot of injustices and her trial was the miscarriage of justice.

He said our politicians should shun their differences at least on the issue of Aafia.

Administrator of Jamia Banoria Mufti Muhammad Naeem said Aafia is an oppressed lady. He said in the history he had not seen another woman that had suffered so much cruelty. He regretted that no Pakistani ruler had ever taken serious efforts on Aafia issue.

Naeem said Aafia is a Pakistani citizen and an innocent lady and the government of Pakistan should move the ICJ to seek her release.

Pasban e Pakistan President Altaf Shakoor said that the Muslim League-Nawaz should be ready for a big defeat in the general polls of 2018. He said the rulers have made separate laws for ordinary citizens and the elite.

Shakoor said the nation thinks, had Aafia been the daughter of elite she would be not jailed in a US prison. He said the silence of Imran Khan in the Aafia issue is big question mark.

He demanded that the government should not waste more time and should move the ICJ for release and repatriation of Aafia.

Jamait Ulema e Islam Sindh vice ameer Qari Muhammad Usman, Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Karachi senior vice president Saifur Rehman and others also spoke on the occasion.