KARACHI, Feb 11: The wife of a Pakistani businessman, who is being held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp allegedly for his links with the Al Qaeda, has lashed out at the government of Pakistan for what she described criminal silence over the illegal detention of innocent Pakistani citizens by the US.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday at the Karachi Press Club, Mrs Farhat Paracha said that the government was handing over Pakistani citizens to the US government for a few dollars, and in effect was selling out its self esteem.

"I went to the Sindh High court, but failed to find relief, as the government did not budge from its position. Subsequently, I approached the Supreme Court where the case is progressing slowly," Mrs Paracha said.

She said despite being aware of all the facts, the government had chosen to remain a silent spectator by not lodging even a minor protest with the US government for the inhuman treatment of Pakistani citizens.

Following his disappearance on July 6, 2003, from Bangkok, no court nor government functionary was willing to provide information about the whereabouts of Mr Paracha.

"It was the International Committee for Red Cross who informed me on Aug 23 that my husband was being held at Bagram Air base," she said. Mrs Paracha said that an American lawyer had helped her out. "He remains in contact with me through telephone and email," she said.

It was with the efforts of a US lawyers' association that a copy of a letter of Mr Paracha, addressed to the president, Combatant Status Review Board, was given to us, Mrs Paracha said.

According to the US lawyers' association, it was only through the efforts of their respective governments that some British detainees had been released from the prison camp.

Not only her husband but her young son Uzair Paracha had also been detained at the New York Metropolitan Detention Centre, she said. He was 23 when he went to the US, she stated, adding that he was now 25 and was kept under solitary confinement, she added.

All the mother has received till now are two postcards, saying that her son is fine. During this entire period, no charges had been brought against either the father or the son, Mrs Paracha said. "Mr Auzair had just completed his MBA when he left the US," she said.

"It seems that the world has united against us. About 90 per cent of friends have parted ways with us. Practically, we have no friends left. May be they will return when Paracha returns," Mrs Paracha supposed. "Even my children have lost friends," she said.

Saifullah Paracha's 12-year-old daughter, Zehra Paracha, who was also present at the press conference along with her elder sister and brother, Muneeza and Mustafa Paracha, read out portions of her father's letter.

Trying her best to keep the tears inside her eye's, Zehra said that in the life hereafter good and bad will be separated, and my father will go to the good side. "Since my early childhood, I wanted to go to the US, but not anymore. My father and loving brother used to pamper me," said the young Zehra. The letter was addressed to the president of the Combatant Status Review Board, Guantanamo Bay Navel Base, Cuba.