ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday reiterated his government’s commitment to extending all possible legal and diplomatic support to Dr Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani neuroscientist currently serving an 86-year prison sentence in the United States.
The assurance was conveyed during a meeting with Dr Fauzia Siddiqui, sister of the incarcerated academic. According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, Sharif affirmed that the government was actively pursuing the matter and had “not been negligent in any way” regarding Dr Siddiqui’s case.
He further said that a special committee, headed by Federal Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, had been constituted to coordinate efforts in the case. The committee will remain in contact with Dr Fauzia Siddiqui and extend the necessary legal and procedural support.
Dr Aafia Siddiqui was arrested in Afghanistan in July 2008, allegedly in possession of sodium cyanide and documents related to large-scale attacks.
According to US prosecutors, she attempted to shoot American personnel during interrogation – an incident that led to her conviction in a New York federal court in 2010 on charges of attempted murder and assault. No terrorism-related charges were filed.
Her family, however, maintains that she was abducted from Karachi in 2003 along with her children and later handed over to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a claim denied by Pakistani authorities.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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