Follow Us
Tag Archives: Aafia
1-yr of Aafia’s imprisonment completes on 23rd
KARACHI: One year of 86-year imprisonment handed to Pakistani woman scientist Dr Aafia Siddiqui would complete on Sept 23, 2011, and ‘Aafia Movement’ has requested the nation to observe the day by raising strong voice against injustice meted out to the daughter of the nation, Dr Aafia. Aaifia Movement head Dr Fauzia Siddiqui has requested prayer leaders to raise the issue of Aafia imprisonment in their Friday sermons.
She urged lawyers, students, social and political workers and other sections of civil society to hold protests, rallies, seminars and dialogue programs on the day. She said for whole nine years Dr Aafia faced inhuman torture at the hands of Americans, while her three children were also snatched from her.
What about Dr Aafia?
What a shame that Dr Aafia Siddiqui is languishing in American jail due mainly to the indifferent attitude of the Pakistan government and its Ambassador in Washington. She is serving 86-year jail term on a flimsy and concocted charge that she tried to kill a US marine while in Kabul. It appears that there is no renewed effort to secure her release.
Dr Aafia’s sister, Fauzia Siddiqui, has accused the government of making massive funds available to some of its favourite on the pretext of pursuing her case but they were instead enjoying themselves with that money. Fauzia very rightly said that the golden opportunity for her sister’s release was when the decision to let Raymond Davis, who was guilty of killing two Pakistani citizens in broad daylight, go scot-free was taken.
There is hardly any doubt that it is the responsibility of the federal government to make an all-out effort to secure release of any Pakistani national being persecuted in a fake and highly ill-motivated case. Political and religious parties, NGOs and civil society as a whole have been demanding Dr Aafia’ Siddiqui’s immediate release.
JI demands early release of Dr Aafia
SIALKOT/SARGODHA – Hundreds of Jamaat-e-Islami and Shabab-e-Milli activists staged a protest demonstration here at Allama Iqbal Chowk on Friday against the government’s failure to get released Dr Aafia Sidiqui from the US.
Former MPA Advocate Arshad Mehmood Baggu and Sialkot JI Ameer Hafiz Muhammad Aslam Tahir led the rally on the city roads, carrying the banners and placards. They highlighted the importance of “Dr Aafia Sidiqui Day” while addressing the participants. Arshad Baggu and Aslam Tahir strongly criticised the government and said that both President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had forgotten Dr Aafia. They said the US got freed Ramond Davis from Pakistan which was a slap on the face our ruler.
Meanwhile, on the appeal of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), the Ulema unanimously passed several condemnation resolutions against the arrest of Dr Aafia Sidiqui after the Juma sermons in all the mosques of Sialkot, Daska, Bhopalwala, Sambrial, Uggoki, Pasrur, Badiana, Chawinda and surrounding areas. The Ulema also prayed for the early release of Dr Aafia from America and for the halt of the torrential rains and heavy floods in Sindh and for curbing the menace of dengue fever virus in Punjab.
JI holds Aafia Day rallies across country
LAHORE – Jamaat-e-Islami observed Dr Aafia Siddiqui Day across the country including the City on Friday.
Rallis were held in the federal and the provincial capitals besides major cities denouncing the US court verdict of 86 years jail term for Dr Aafia Siddiqui on terrorism charges and demanding her immediate release.
In the Punjab capital, women and children held a demonstration outside the Lahore Press Club to draw the world attention to the injustice done to Pakistan’s daughter by the US court and demanding her release. JI deputy Secretary General Dr Farid Ahmed Piracha, while addressing the gathering, said that Dr Aafia was a daughter of Islam but the military dictator Pervez Musharraf, in a show of utter shamelessness, handed her over to the US for dollars.
He deplored that the present rulers too were devoid of any sense of shame and honour and had taken no solid steps for Dr Aafia’s release. However, he said, the Pakistani nation was fully awake and would continue its struggle for Dr Aafia’s release.
Pakistanis rap US over Aafia conviction
Answering a call from the country’s biggest religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami, protesters gathered in the southern port city of Karachi on Friday saying Siddiqui has been tried based on prejudice of the US judicial system against Muslims.
Protesters chanted anti-US slogans and strongly criticized the US justice system for its handling of the case.
Relatives of Siddiqui have slammed the US justice system for its ruling against the female Pakistani scientist. Her parents say US judicial officials have frequently rejected their request for a new lawyer to represent their daughter.
There have been numerous rallies in the country over Siddiqui’s case and her release has become a major national issue in Pakistan with protesters saying that the scientist’s trial in the US was a complete mockery of the legal process.
Rallies and seminars staged demanding Aafia’s release
The trial and sentencing of Aafia Siddiqui had sparked an outrage in Pakistan where most people viewed the case and the sentencing as a blatant anti-Muslim and unjust.
Participants of the ‘Release Aafia Day’ rally; organized by Jamaat-e-Islami, a right wing religious political party, chanted anti-American chanted slogans and demanded the release of 39-year old mother of three. The party’s chief Munawwar Hassan and other leaders addressing the rally expressed solidarity with Dr. Afia and her family termed 86 year sentence handed by the US Court on September 23 last year anti-Muslim, unjust.
The New York Court had found Siddiqui guilty of grabbing a rifle at a police station in the Afghan town of Ghazni where she was being interrogated in July 2008 and of trying to gun down her US interrogators in Ghazni, Afghanistan.
Prosecutors said she opened fire that did not hit anyone but was herself shot in the stomach before being subdued.
Jamaat-e-Islami to observe Dr Aafia Siddique Day today
LAHORE - On the appeal of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Syed Munawar Hasan, JI will observe the Dr Aafia Siddiqui Day on Friday to express its solidarity with the respected daughter of the nation, jailed by a US court for 86 years for alleged terrorism. Rallies and seminars calling for Dr Aafia’s release will be held in federal and provincial capitals besides major cities.
A big rally led by JI chief Syed Munawar Hasan, Dr Aafia’s sister Dr Fauzia Siddiqui and JI Karachi chief Muhamamd Husain Mehnati will be held from Empress Road to Regal in Karachi. In the Punjab capital, a women and children rally will be held outside the Lahore Press Club in the afternoon.
JI to observe ‘Dr Aafia day’ on September 16
LAHORE - The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) will observe Dr Aafia Day on September 16 to highlight the need for Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s release and to express solidarity with the families of missing people.
Protest meetings on the detention of Dr Aafia will be held on the day outside press clubs in all major cities and JI leaders will address the meetings in their respective areas.
An Eid Messgae from the family of Aafia Siddiqui
(This is Aafia’s 18th Eid away from her family and children)
Eid al-Fitr, 2011/1432
Today we are waiting. We have had a lot of days like this since Aafia and her children disappeared in 2003. There might be some good news. There might be some bad news. There might be no news at all. That is just the way it is some days.
We have to take the time this Eid al-Fitr to acknowledge some special groups of people.
Aafia’s supporters in Pakistan and around the world who marched in peaceful demonstrations in the brutal heat and humidity of August, while fasting, to remind everyone that neither Aafia nor her missing son Suleman have been forgotten. Faith, resolve, and courage will always make powerful people nervous. Especially this year.
