KARACHI - Aafia Movement leader Dr Fowzia Siddiqui has asked the governments of USA and Pakistan to do justice to Dr Aafia Siddiqui, who completed her seventh year in US prison on Saturday.

She was addressing a protest demonstration held in front of the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on the eve of completion of seven years of Aafia’s imprisonment.

Fowzia said that US President Trump had promised to make the US a great nation again. She reminded that great nations were made by upholding justice and rule of law. She said that the US had already shown injustice in the case of Aafia. She asked Trump to keep his promise of making America great by doling out justice to her sister.

Fowzia also asked the government of Pakistan to correct the incorrect. “Aafia has suffered a lot due to the negligence of the past governments, but it is better late than never,” she argued, and reminded the government that time was ripe now to take up this issue seriously again.

She said that Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had got the golden opportunity to strongly highlight the issue of Aafia from the forum of the United Nations where the world leaders were present.  She said it wan irony that building of the UN was opposite to the US court, which had handed down Aafia this cruel sentence. Fowzia said the main question was why Aafia was in the US jail, when she was a Pakistani citizen.

She said in past many opportunities were missed to get Aafia repatriated.

She said it was unfortunate that US spies like Raymond Davis were released and allowed to go home, but the rulers ignored the case of Aafia’s release.

She reminded that the administration of former US President Obama was ready to repatriate Aafia, but the government of Pakistan did not send the US government letter in this regard.

Fowzia said the sentence handed down to Aafia was the death of the US justice system.  She also hit out at the silence of Pakistani rulers on the issue, and termed it really shameful. She said it was the national demand to release Aafia, adding Aafia is a test case and this case had already exposed many faces.

She said many governments had changed in Pakistan, but no prime minister, including Nawaz Sharif, had fulfilled their promises about the release of Aafia.

She said now it was an opportunity for Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan to play a due role in this regard and become a national hero.

She opined the real hindrance in the repatriation of Aafia was not the US administration, but the Pakistani rulers and politicians.

She said the crime of Aafia is that she belonged to an ordinary Pakistani family and not to the elite class. She said that the civil society and rights groups of the whole world demanded early release of Aafia, who has become an icon of human rights globally. On the occasion, the protestors displayed a big symbolic uneven scale of justice.