An Issue of Superiority
March 22, 2011
Is Raymond Davis a More Superior Being Than Aafia Siddiqui?
by Adnan Khalid
TECHNORATI
On February 3, 2010, a Pakistani – Aafia Siddiqui – was found guilty of two counts of attempted murder, armed assault, using and carrying a firearm, and three counts of assault on U.S. officers and employees. Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison (effectively a life sentence) by the federal judge Berman in Manhattan on September 23, 2010. She is a Ph.D and an MIT graduate. She was reported as being a polite, not unusually religious, non-assertive woman by her fellows at MIT. Pakistan's government had no power and control over the U.S. in Aaafia's case and hence could do nothing to get her released.
Raymond Davis is a staff member of the U.S. consulate in Lahore. He shot dead two Pakistani men on Thursday the 27th of January 2011, in a crowded part of Lahore (Mozang Chowk.) A vehicle of the U.S. consulate rushed to Mr Davis’ ‘rescue’ ran over a third person, who also died. A murder case was registered against Raymond Davis, who was handed into police custody. Raymond Davis was released by Punjab officials on 16th March 2011 after a reported deal was negotiated with the families of the two men he was accused of murdering. Davis was scheduled to be indicted for murder charges on the same date.
Security forces picked up the victims' families last night. A payment estimated at $2 million was made to secure the release. The families are still in police custody. Davis is now at an undisclosed location, rumored to be Bagram Air Force Base in Kabul.
"Blood money" was given to the families who now have denied that they had agreed to the deal. One of the family members told the media in Pakistan; "Family members were told they were being taken to the police station to make statements. Instead, they were taken to a secret location and held in isolation and told that unless they signed a letter pardoning Davis, 'you will never see daylight'."
Senator John Kerry flew to Pakistan on February 16, 2011. He met with Punjab’s ruling duo, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his brother Nawaz Sharif, heads of the PML, Pakistan Muslim League. Kerry announced that the release would occur in a few days, although families refused to meet with him. Rana Sanaullah the Punjab Law Minister played the lead role. Sources in Pakistan indicate that government and police officials in Punjab received millions in CIA payoffs in the deal.
My question to the respected people of the world is whether one person could be so superior to the other simply because of the geographical location in which he is born. Is luck such a great factor in determining the human rights of a person that simply being a citizen of a super power provides a person the liberty to kill. Where are the so-called champions of human rights and international law when an attempted murder gets 86 years in jail and a double murder goes unpunished. Where were the saviors of humanity who killed thousands in the name of war on terror when families were terrorized into signing an agreement for the freedom of the one who killed their sons! Is the only form of terrorism visible to the international community Islamic terrorism and doesn't any other form of violence against humanity classify as terrorism in the eyes of the intellectuals of this world? Ask yourself and be ashamed of the world that you live in because that is the least we can do!
