–JUI-F senator tables resolution in Upper House for release of scientist from American prison
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday said Pakistan was in contact with the US government over Dr Aafia Siddiqui issue.
During the weekly news briefing, Foreign Office Spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal told reporters that officials from Pakistan’s Consulate in Houston had met Dr Aafia 12 time during the last three years. The spokesman also informed reporters about Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi’s meeting with Dr Fouzia the sister of Dr Aafia.
On Tuesday, the FM met with Dr Fouzia Siddiqui at the FO in the federal capital.
Qureshi had informed Fouzia about efforts being made to bring Aafia back to the country.
“To ensure Dr Aafia’s well-being we have called for consular visits, we have also spoken to the Pakistan consulate general regarding protecting Dr Aafia’s legal and human rights,” Qureshi had said.
Meanwhile, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islami-Fazl (JUI-F) Senator Talha Mehmood tabled a resolution in the House calling for the release of Dr Aafia. He stated that the government should take measures for the return of Dr Aafia and contact the United States.
On November 7, the Foreign Office had shared a letter by Dr Aafia Siddiqui addressed to Prime Minister Imran Khan, seeking his assistance in ensuring her release from the US prison.
Pakistan’s consul general in Houston met Dr Aafia at the prison where she had handed him over the letter addressed to Khan.
“I want to get out of the prison, as my imprisonment in the US jail is illegal,” she writes in the letter.
In June, Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal said Pakistani consul general in the USA held a meeting with incarcerated Dr Aafia Siddiqui where she complained of the mistreatment by US authorities.
The Pakistani government had also raised the issue of “respecting the human and legal rights” of Dr Aafia Siddiqui with US Ambassador Alice Wells, who visited Islamabad on November 7.
Dr Aafia has been in prison since 2010 on the charges of attempted murder and assault on US military personnel during an interview with the US authorities in Ghazni, charges which Aafia Siddiqui denies. She was sentenced to 86 years in prison at the Federal Medical Centre, Carswell, Fort Worth in Texas.