Terming the Foreign Ministry’s report on Dr Aafia Siddiqui unsatisfactory, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday summoned an officer of the level of foreign secretary or joint secretary at the next hearing.
Justice Amir Farooq heard the petition filed for the release and repatriation of Dr Aafia Siddiqui.
Deputy Attorney General Raja Khalid Mehmood presented the report of the Foreign Ministry in this regard.
Justice Amir asked what documentary evidence the government of Pakistan has provided regarding the case, saying a report holds no value without documentary evidence.
“You have not even filed the report properly. We will not deal with this case based on your statements. The case was fixed for hearing four years later, and even today a proper report has not been filed. The Foreign Office is not serious about this matter,” Justice Farooq observed.
The IHC has directed the federal government to submit a progress report and maintained that it is the responsibility of the state to protect every citizen. The court summoned an official of the level of a foreign secretary or joint secretary at the next hearing.
Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s sister, Fowzia Siddiqui’s counsel said the state has a responsibility to protect its citizens, adding that Aafia Siddiqui was abducted., The counsel claimed that there has been no update whether or not she is still alive.
The report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that consular visits had been suspended by the prison authorities in Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Carswell due to the pandemic. As a result, it said, prison meetings of the consul general with Dr. Aafia had been put on hold.
During the meeting, according to the report, Dr Aafia herself informed the consul general that her Covid-19 test came negative. “Dr. Aafia was alert in her conversation with the Consul General. She also informed the Consul General that she had recently been examined by her psychiatrist who declared her (mentally sound and) well,” it read.
On December 28, 2020, it said the ministry’s additional secretary (Americas) held a telephonic conversation with Dr Fowzia, sister of Dr. Aafia, during which the former briefed the latter about the last consular visit and the latest status of her mercy petition.
Following the signing of a mercy petition by Dr. Aafia during the December 2019 consular visit, the embassy had approached the US Department of Justice (DoJ) for further course of action, the report said, adding the Office of Pardon Attorney at the department advised that the signed petition could be filed by the inmate herself by post or through the jail warden or through her appointed attorney.
In the absence of a lawyer, the only other option was that the inmate file the petition herself through the prison warden.
“To address this caveat, our Consul General in Houston planned a visit to FMC to meet Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. The meeting was scheduled on March 27, 2020, which was cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic. As an alternative, the petition was sent to FMC so that it could be forwarded to DoJ, however, FMC informed that Dr. Aafia refused to sign the additional consent form for dispatching the petition to DoJ,” it said.
“Consul general approached prison authorities for consular access at the earliest possibility. Only after the intervention of our Embassy in Washington, a special consular visit was arranged for Consul General on 24th September 2020, however, consent form couldn’t not be signed during that meeting.”
The report said: “Consul General again went to meet Dr. Aafia on 15th December 2020 but prison authorities informed him that Dr. Aafia Siddiqui had refused to meet him.”
