Daily Times

Karachi: Aafia Movement Pakistan leader and noted neurophysician of the country Dr Fowzia Siddiqui here Wednesday greeted passing of the Right of Access to Information Bill by the Senate and asked that the sitting PML-N government should also fulfill the promise of the release of Pakistani mother Dr Aafia Siddiqui.

In a statement, she said the state minister for information should provide the nation latest information about the matter pertaining to Aafia release. She hoped that the repatriation of Aafia would augur well for the nation and country.

She said in the beginning of this year the American lawyers of Aafia were very hopeful for her repatriation. As Aafia is a Pakistani citizen it was needed that the President or Prime Minister of Pakistan should write an official letter to the US administration asking them to repatriate the Pakistani mother. She said they knocked every door of the rulers in Islamabad but they did not write this simple letter.

Dr Fowzia said they had also asked the government to provide them copies of any letter written in connection with Aafia by the present or former government and also had sent formal application to the foreign office under the Freedom of Information Act, but they used delaying tactics and let the tenure of the former US President Obama completed by January 20, 2017 before providing any answer. She said this shows that both the PPP and PML-N governments had made false promises with the nation on the issue of Aafia release.

She said we should not only need new laws but also their implementation. She said under the constitution of Pakistan all citizens enjoy basic rights, but our ruling elite are not ready to give ordinary citizens these constitutional rights. She demanded of the PML-N government to fulfill their promise about the release of Aafia Siddiqui, at the earliest.

Published in Daily Times, August 24^th 2017.