SWABI: Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan on Sunday blasted the country’s leadership for failing to take practical steps to get Dr Aafia Siddiqui released from a US prison.
Senator Ahmad recently visited the US along with Dr Siddiqui’s sister Dr Fauzia to meet the neuroscientist, who has been incarcerated in US since 2003.
Talking to Dawn here, he said it was a pity that Dr Fauzia was allowed to meet her sister after two decades while her children hadn’t been able to see their mother during this period.
The JI leader claimed the neuroscientist was innocent as she neither belonged to Al-Qaeda nor was she involved in any act of terrorism. “She badly needs support of Pakistani government and people, but the leadership hasn’t done anything to get her freed from imprisonment,” he lamented.
Senator Ahmad said he would continue to push fororelease of Dr Siddiqui, who was detained in Afghanistan in 2008 on charges of attempted murder.
He said if the federal government sincerely took up the matter with the US authorities, Dr Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year jail term in Texas, could be set free.
The Jamaat senator said Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had said the government would write a letter to the relevant forum for release of the neuroscientist, which he added wasn’t enough, and asked for practical measures in that regard.
VARSITY IN DIRE STRAITS: Former provincial general secretary of Awami National Party Salim Khan Advocate has expressed fear that the University of Swabi would soon become financially bankrupt because as it has been confronting the worst financial crisis.
Talking to mediapersons here on Sunday, he said the varsity, established by then ANP provincial government, had already expelled several PhD faculty members and firing of more was on the cards.
DROWNS: A 19-year-old youth drowned in the Indus River here on Sunday while beating the heat along with his friends, Rescue 1122 officials said.
They said on receiving information, a water rescue vehicle along with personnel was dispatched to the accident site, but the body was still untraced.
They identified the victim as Kashif Khan from Nabi village of Chota Lahor.
Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2023