ISLAMABAD: Shehbaz Sharif instructed the Foreign Office to remain fully engaged with the United States and Pakistan’s mission in Washington regarding the well-being and early release of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.
Siddiqui, 51, a neuroscientist and mother of three, is serving an 86-year sentence in a Texas prison on dubious charges of attempting to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan.
The instruction was given after her sister, Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui, called on the prime minister to discuss the matter.
During the meeting, Fowzia expressed her gratitude to the government for its measures in ensuring Siddiqui’s well-being and requested the government to double its efforts for her early release.
The prime minister assured Fowzia of the government’s full support and lauded her tireless efforts over several years in the pursuit of justice for her sister.
According to the Associated Press of Pakistan, Sharif also recalled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s “robust efforts” for the release of Siddiqui and prayed for her good health.
Siddiqui, whose conviction was widely criticised in Pakistan, was sentenced by a US court in September 2010. She was convicted of attempted murder, armed assault and other charges.
She was arrested in July 2008 by Afghanistan police of Hamid Karzai, who claimed she was carrying two pounds (900 grams) of sodium cyanide and crumpled notes referring to mass casualty attacks and New York landmarks, but offered no evidence.
The day after her arrest, she allegedly grabbed an M-4 rifle in her interrogation room and started shooting while yelling “death to America”. No US agents or soldiers were hit, but Siddiqui was shot and wounded in response, according to US prosecutors.
Siddiqui’s defense lawyers, three of whom were paid by Islamabad, argued that their client had shot at the US officials in a panic and said the crime lacked any connection to terrorism.
The circumstances surrounding her interrogation by American soldiers in Afghanistan in 2008 remain unclear to date, as it was never fully explained how she had disappeared with her three children in Karachi five years prior.
— With Reuters
