LHC Makes Historic Ruling
June 5, 2010
LHC makes historic ruling for defense of Dr Aafia
THE Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday ordered the federal government to defend Dr Aafia Siddiqui in the American court by using all diplomatic means.
Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry observed that since Dr Aafia was a Pakistani citizen, therefore, it was a duty of the government to defend her. The judge also ordered Director General f Foreign Office Shohail Khan to write a letter to the American court, holding trial of Dr Aafia, to bring all the material regarding her innocence into its knowledge.
In his three-page order, the judge asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send the documents regarding Dr Aafia’s innocence to her lawyers for presenting before the American court.
Justice Chaudhry issued the orders while disposing of two petitions seeking instructions for the Government of Pakistan to transmit all the documentary evidence about Dr Aafia’s innocence to the US court so that she might get justice. The judge, on June 4, after listening arguments, had reserved the judgment which he issued on Saturday.
The judge further observed, “I feel no hesitation in holding that if the documents/material in possession of the Government of Pakistan and the family of Dr Aafia in regard to her innocence are sent to the lawyers defending her in American courts if they so wish or think appropriate, however, in accordance with the law of that country.”
The judge issued the orders in petitions filed by Barrister Iqbal Jafree, pleading that Dr Aafia went missing while she was on her way to Karachi from Islamabad along with her three children in 2003 and she was taken to Ghazni, Afghanistan, by American forces. He said the American government had illegally implicated her in cases by showing her arrest from Ghazni. He said a case regarding her abduction and her children was registered in Karachi. He said her two children were recovered from Afghanistan afterwards.
