There was Raymond Davis – the stereotype of a burly highwayman, who had shot to death two innocent Pakistanis – but his country rushed to have him back in the safety of the US mainland and here is our own government that has been so indifferent to one of its less threatening citizen, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, that it is now a former US Senator Mike Gravel bemoaning its guilty silence. He made the shocking revelation that the Pakistan government has not done so much as to make a demand for her release. His lamentations about the inaction by the ruling Pakistani leaders to secure her release are a most damning indictment of the government. Dr Aafia was framed for a crime that frail, as she is, could not possibly commit – take on an armed group of US commandoes single-handed.For why else would Senator Gravel say that during his 50 years long career, he had not seen anyone subjected to as much oppression as Aafia. To see an American political figure say such words is quite exhilarating, as it is a testament that God-fearing men are still present in the US centres of power.Incarcerated in a US jail cell for 86 years, torture, and harsh restriction like forbidding contact with her family pose a serious threat to her life. The government must at once spring to her help, and press the Obama administration for her repatriation.