“A tale of cruelty”

By: Fakeha Qamar

One evening in March 2003 in Karachi, while traveling in a taxi to Islamabad airport, she was kidnapped by unknown people near the Safari Park and taken to an unknown location. It was that evening, when an endless series of trials and tribulations began for Doctor Aafia and her family. The news of Dr. Aafia’s arrest and abduction was broadcast not only on domestic, but also on foreign media platforms. Human rights organisations also voiced their concerns and protested against it. During the time of General Pervez Musharraf’s government, Dr. Aafia’s family were asked to remain silent.  News appeared in the headlines on March 31st 2003 in all the national newspapers of Pakistan that Dr. Aafia had been handed over to the American government. All schools of thought protested the kidnapping of Dr. Aafia in Pakistan but it had no impact. After Dr. Aafia’s transfer to America, it seemed that a new chapter of persecution had started. All eyes of the whole world were on the case, in which a woman was accused of terrorism, the American judiciary badly exposed in this false case. During this time, despite the harshness of the Pakistani government, efforts to release Dr. Aafia continued at public level, named as the “Aafia Release Movement.” Dr. Aafia’s mother, Ismat Siddiqui, passed away on 2nd of July last year after not being able to  bear the pain of her daughter’s separation. Her son Ahmed and daughter Maryam had become more than 20 years old during her imprisonment. This human tragedy born from the war in Afghanistan is still a stigma on Pakistani and American democracy and an infringement of basic human rights, which must be eradicated now. Dr. Aafia is confined in a cramped cell in the infamous American prison, where her month-long rotation has become like a park.

I hope this dark night of cruelty will end soon and our sisters will be among us InshAllah.