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Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Saturday that his comments in the United States about the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui were being \u201ctaken out of context\u201d in the wake of criticism of the remarks by her lawyer.<\/p>\n
FM Dar is currently on a visit to the US. He spoke at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, a day ago, during which he had drawn a parallel<\/a> with the case of Dr Aafia, who has spent years in a US prison, when responding to a question about former prime minister Imran Khan\u2019s incarceration.<\/p>\n He noted that Pakistan did not interfere in that process because \u201cthe Americans had followed their judicial system\u201d. Furthermore, he said, Imran was sentenced by Pakistan\u2019s judiciary, following the due process of law. \u201cWhen the due process is followed, others do not have the right to interfere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Dr Aafia, a neuroscientist and educator, was convicted<\/a> by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on charges of attempted murder of US personnel in Afghanistan and has been serving her sentence at the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Carswell in the US since 2010.<\/p>\n FM Dar\u2019s remarks were criticised by her lawyer as being \u201cidiotic\u201d.<\/p>\n Subsequently, a post by FM Dar on X said: \u201cYesterday, in response to a question about Imran Khan\u2019s case at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, the reference to Dr Aafia Siddiqui\u2019s case is being taken out of context. During the tenures of PML-N governments, we have consistently provided all diplomatic and legal assistance for Dr Aafia Siddiqui\u2019s release, and we will continue to do so until the matter of her release is resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n He said every country had its judicial and legal procedures, which were to be respected, whether it was Pakistan or the US.<\/p>\n \u201cOur government\u2019s stance on the issue of Dr Aafia Siddiqui\u2019s release is clear and unequivocal.\u201d<\/p>\n Responding to Dar\u2019s comments earlier in the day, Dr Aafia\u2019s lawyer Clive Stafford Smith OBE said: \u201cSorry but this is idiotic! \u2018Due process\u2019 does not equal something where Aafia had no witnesses, they lied & it was all false. That\u2019s called a miscarriage of justice not what\u2019s \u2018due\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Dar \u201cappeared to be going out of his way to undermine Aafia\u2019s case yesterday by acting like she got \u2018due process\u2019 when all she got was torture and a trial in New York when all the real witnesses were in Afghanistan\u201d, he said in a separate post on X.<\/p>\n Speaking to Dawn.com<\/em>, Smith said: \u201cAs you may have seen from the deputy PM\u2019s statement, he was trying to justify what is happening to Imran Khan by using the Aafia Siddiqui case \u2014 saying her case is a result of \u2018due process of law\u2019 in the US and so therefore it is only something a judge can deal with.<\/p>\n \u201cHe goes on to say that disagreeing with a legal verdict against him does not give Imran Khan the right to provoke people to dissent, which should be done through the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n Smith said that in his opinion, \u201cI suspect we can all disagree with what he is saying: in all of the scores of people whom I have exonerated in the US, I have used publicity to help force the system to correct its mistakes, and obviously, in Aafia\u2019s case, I tried to do that through the clemency process<\/a> with Biden too.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that FM Dar\u2019s analogy was \u201cunwise as well as misplaced\u201d.<\/p>\n On the PTI founder\u2019s incarceration and legal troubles, he said: \u201cI suspect many people will disagree with the notion that Imran Khan has received anything that approaches \u2018due process of law\u2019 in the cases against him, just as we can agree that Aafia is where she is today due to the criminal actions of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), along with others, rather than any \u2018due process\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that FM Dar should not talk about Dr Aafia\u2019s case in the context of Imran\u2019s cases.<\/p>\n \u201cIn every instance, Pakistan\u2019s officials need to be towing the consistent line, set out in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif\u2019s excellent letter to Joe Biden, that no matter what you believe, Aafia has suffered enough,\u201d Aafia\u2019s lawyer added.<\/p>\n He added that he was very optimistic that Pakistan would continue with efforts to secure Dr Aafia\u2019s release.<\/p>\n Speaking on the circumstances of her trial, Smith said: \u201cThe defence brought no witnesses to New York, not one.<\/p>\n \u201cThe prosecution brought the people they wanted \u2014 soldiers who all tried unsuccessfully to tell the same story, and an Afghan interpreter who was promised US residency and given a substantial amount of money.\u201d<\/p>\n He said that the physical evidence solidly disproved the prosecution\u2019s theory, even then, but before trial, the defence did not locate the videotape that proved beyond argument that the holes in the wall were not from Dr Aafia shooting, since they were from earlier that day.<\/p>\n \u201cI have promised to file her appeal in New York in the next week or ten days,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n A day ago, PM Shehbaz had assured<\/a> Dr Fouzia Siddiqui that the government would continue to provide all possible legal and diplomatic support in the matter of her sister.<\/p>\n On July 12, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had expr\u00adessed dissatisfaction<\/a> over the federal government\u2019s failure to submit a report in the case concerning Dr Aafia\u2019s release, health and repatriation, with Justice Ishaq threatening to \u201csummon the entire cabinet\u201d if the report was not presented. IHC Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq on July 21 had issued a contempt of court notice to the entire federal government, including the prime minister and all ministers, for refusing to file an amicus brief to support Dr Aafia\u2019s case in the US.<\/p>\n However, the IHC Registrar Office had on Wednesday put on hold the processing of the contempt of court notices<\/a> issued to PM Shehbaz and his cabinet members as the dealing staff decided to ascertain its validity first.<\/p>\n In February, the IHC was told that the proposal<\/a> to exchange Shakil Afridi for Dr Aafia was unfeasible. The law officer representing the federal government informed the court that Smith had suggested the swap, but Pakistan and the US did not have any agreement for such an exchange.<\/p>\n