Pakistan seeks repatriation of terror suspect Aafia

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has sent a letter to the US Attorney general’s office requesting repatriation of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, who is currently under detention in America for her alleged links with Al Qaeda.

Malik said that as the Aafia case had become a matter of great public concern, her repatriation would help America project a good image of itself to Pakistan, the Daily Times reported.

Pointing out to a human angle, Rehman said Aafia’s two children had been living in a constant state of uncertainty, which was adversely affecting their health.

The minister said he would appreciate if the American attorney general personally looked into the matter and used his office to repatriate Aafia to Pakistan, adding that she could be deported under the UN Convention for Exchange or Repatriation of Prisoners on Humanitarian Grounds.

Reportedly there had been over 90 cases in US legal history, where cases against such individuals were dropped on humanitarian or political grounds under the UN Convention for Deportation of Prisoners, he noted.

As directed by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Rehman also spoke to Aafia’s mother and briefed her about the action taken.

Siddiqui, a trained neuroscientist, has been charged by the US for allegedly shooting at her American interrogators in Afghanistan in July 2008, and faces up to twenty years in prison for attempted murder, and life in prison on a firearms charge. (ANI)