Pakistani authorities hand over son of Dr Aafia Siddiqui to his aunt

Pakistani authorities on Monday evening handed over son of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, who is in the US custody and facing charges of attacking her American investigators, was handed over to Dr Fauzia Siddiqui, younger sister of detained Dr Siddiqui.

According to an exclusive footage aired by Express News television channel, when the officials of Pakistan’s Interior Ministry accompanied by a police team handed over Muhammad Ahmed to his maternal aunt at 9:10 p.m. (PST) at her residence in Islamabad, an emotional Dr Fauzia repeatedly hugged and kissed her nephew. The officials were present at the residence of Dr Fauzia till filing of this report.

Earlier, the Afghanistan government reportedly handed over custody of Muhammad Ahmed to Pakistani authorities in Kabul on Monday after a meeting of Pakistani and Afghan officials in Kabul. Reports said that an official of the Afghan Interior Ministry, Daud Panjsheri, handed over Muhammad Ahmed to Pakistan Ambassador Asif Durrani.

The US officials claimed to have arrested Dr Aafia Siddiqui and her three children from Ghazni in 2003. But the family of Dr Aafia says she disappeared along with her children on way to the Karachi Airport on March 30, 2003 for catching a flight to Rawalpindi. It is believed that she was picked up by Pakistani intelligence officials and later handed over to the US authorities in Afghanistan.

Dr Aafia is facing charges of attacking her American investigators in Afghanistan. Her mother alleges that an intelligence agency official had come to her house a week after her daughter’s disappearance to warn her not to make an issue out of her daughter’s disappearance and threatened her with dire consequences. Both the Pakistan government as well as the US officials in Washington had been denying any knowledge of Dr Aafia’s custody.

One of her three children had reportedly already died while there was no information about her daughter whether she would be handed over to Pakistani official or not. The Pakistani officials brought Muhammad Ahmed to Pakistan by the first available flight from Kabul. He was taken to Islamabad from the airport by helicopter that landed in Islamabad.

The boy was first shifted to the Foreign Ministry and then handed over to the Interior Ministry officials, who later handed him over his aunt. Commenting on the matter, Iqbal Haider, co-chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said that disappearance of Dr Aafia Siddiqui was one of the heinous crimes committed by the Musharraf-led regime.

He said the sitting government, however, cooperated in tracing the whereabouts of Dr Aafia and her son, who ultimately reached Islamabad and was handed over his aunt on Monday. He paid tribute to non-function Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry for taking notice of the case of missing persons and said that his action led to discovery of Dr Aafia Siddiqui and her son’s whereabouts.