About traitors and heroes My traitor your hero : Ali Ashraf Khan
On the 11th September 2013, twelve years after the so-called event of 9/11 unleashed unabated terror against Muslims all over the world suspecting them to be real or potential terrorists the UK based Islamic Human Rights Commission published a letter demanding the repatriation of Dr. Afia Siddiqui. They write:”Dr Afia Siddiqui has been languishing in US custody for several years now. Hers is a depressing tale of how a promising future of an aspiring and intelligent frontrunner is destroyed at the hands of barbaric collaborators under the pretext of the ‘war on terror’. It is a story of indescribable torture, and painful separation from her young children and loved ones that have taken a huge toll on her physical and mental health which continues to deteriorate as days go by.” Recently on 23rd September it completed third years that a federal US court sentenced the political prisoner Dr. Afia Siddiqui to 86 years in prison on charges that were not proved during the flawed court proceedings. Multiple sympathizers from Pakistan and all over the world have protested against the inhuman treatment and illegal detention and torture and finally the sentence of a young Muslima, mother of three children, that was not meant to provide justice but to hide criminal acts by the US army and Pakistani intelligence services and wanted to take revenge on a woman when stronger ‘enemies’ of the US could not be reached. American Steve Lendman proving his allegation wrote under the title of ‘Afia Siddiqui: Victimized by American Injustice’ that “Under cross-examination, she said she was given the bag with incriminating documents, didn't know its contents or whether handwriting on them was hers. She explained her repeated torture at Bagram prison camp, the effects of the strong medications given to her, and at one point said, "If you were in a secret prison, or your children were tortured," after which she was forcibly removed from court and the proceedings continued without her.” Besides the suppression of Afia’s evidence by the US court many other points were not even taken up during the trial such as it remained unexplained how a frail, 110 pound woman, confronted with three US army officers, two interpreters and two FBI agents managed to assault three of them, snatch a rifle from one of them, open fire at close range, hit no one, but she herself was shot twice in the stomach; how come there were no fingerprints on the gun and many others. The statements Afia made to FBI agent Angela Sercer and that were used in the trial were made whilst she was under 24 hour surveillance by FBI agents in the hospital at Bagram, with her arms and legs tied to a bed for weeks, several types of medication, sleep-deprived and at the mercy of the agent for food, water and in order to relieve herself. Sercer did not identify herself to Afia as a FBI agent. The use of these statements in court were objected to by the defense on the basis of ‘Miranda laws’ which mandate that a detainee must be informed of their rights, have access to an attorney, or in the case of international law, consular staff and law enforcement officials must identify themselves.
Despite this the judge denied the motion and allowed this to form part of the questioning. Nawaz Sharif is traveling to the US for a settlement of the matter of the Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi who has been sentenced in Pakistan for high treason in connection with his undercover work for US intelligence to get hold of proves for the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. The US who is considering the traitor a hero has been putting pressure on Pakistan ever since to release Afridi and let him go to the US where he will be imparted a hero’s welcome. The least what Nawaz Sharif can do is to reach a prisoner exchange of Afridi for Aafia though even this is not what justice is all about, but as the saying goes beggars cant be chooser, so much publicized news reports during last few months that an agreement has been reached between Pakistan and US to exchange prisoners and under that now Pakistan government is going to get Dr. Afia Siddiqui released from US jail. US appears to be adamant in not releasing Dr. Afia Siddiqui because it might expose their judicial weakness at a later stage when this war frenzy started as Crusade by then President George W. Bush will be finally examined in evaluating its real damage done to the American nation. Those playing in the gallery at the end of the day the case of Afia and Afridi only prove that our traitor is a hero of the US and vice versa – the two of them have nothing at all in common. It is high time to realize these facts of life and act accordingly.
Our Ambassador in UN has recently announced that Prime Minister in his address to General Assembly will give a vision statement that the people of Pakistan want peace in the region and want to reach a settlement with Pakistani Taliban because Hamid Karazai has already settled issues with Afghan Taliban by give and take, Taliban is reported to have agreed to support Karazai in 2014 presidential election and US also is reported to have settled thorny issues with Taliban and Mullah Omar is going to play important role in coming days, but Pakistan for unknown reasons is kept under pressure for compromising vital national interest such as Kashmir issue and stoppage to drone attacks. Timing of Peshawar Church attack appears to be masterminded by anti Pakistan lobbies to put Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the back foot again during his UN visit. People in Pakistan are watching the outcome of this visit of Prime Minister to UN General Assembly to yield concrete result in this hour of need when US wants Pakistan to provide security to their exit plan because alternate route is not only expensive but lethal weapons can’t be transported through that route. If Pakistan is going to concede to these American demands than Why Pakistan is hesitant in highlighting Kashmir issue and Dr. Afia Siddiqui’s unlawful conviction by bulldozing the ‘Miranda laws’ during one sided trial by US court. It is high time Pakistan adheres to Pragmatic foreign policy instead of toeing on the US dotted lines. As an independent and respectable nation we have to understand the basic difference in “Who lives if Pakistan dies, and who dies if Pakistan lives” God bless Pakistan.
Karachi. September 24, 2013
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