Karachi: Aafia Movement Pakistan leader and noted neurophysician of the country Dr Fowzia Siddiqui has urged the Pakistani rulers to summon courage and demand urgent repatriation of Pakistani mother Dr Aafia Siddiqui.
She was addressing to gatherings in the megacity in connection with the birthday of Aafia.
Special events were arranged in different parts of the city, where birthday cakes were sliced and prayers offered for early return of Aafia. Asmat Siddiqui, the mother of Aafia, visited different localities and distributed cooked food, ration and cloths amongst needy families.
A ceremony in this connection was also arranged at Amina Secondary School New Karachi under the banner of ‘Youm-eTajdeed-e-Ahad’. Besides Dr Fowzia Siddiqui, ex-MNA Muhammad Laiq Khan, Amina school director Mansoor Ahmed Sheikh, Shakir Aziz, Ms Mehreen, Ghazanfar Ali, Manzoor Ahmed Chachar of Aam Log Ittehad and others attended the gathering.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Fowzia Siddiqui said Dr Aafia has been in American custody for last 15 years, but still people of Pakistan celebrate her birthday every year. She said this is expression of their love and commitment to their innocent sister.
She said it is our collective responsibility to ensure safety of every son and daughter of this nation. She said Aafia was one of the brightest students of Pakistan and she had gotten a full scholarship from the MIT, the top university of the world. She was also one of the best students of her university. She wanted to study the US educational system and replicate it in Pakistan. It was her dream that every child of Pakistan get quality education.
Dr Fowzia said in her childhood Aafia was fond of playing with dolls. She would take care of animals. She would bring injured animals to her home and dress their wounds. She said they snatched minor children from this sensitive woman. One of her snatched children is still missing. She said today Aafia would be sad in jail on her birthday and we too are not happy here. She said these events are only arranged to show that we have not forgotten her. She said we have received thousands of messages of solidarity on her birthday. She said she wants that if some of these messages could be sent to Aafia in jail.
She said our rulers should summon courage and demand repatriation of Aafia. She urged the USA to show friendliness, mercy and goodwill on Aafia issue. She said we have already shown goodwill to whole world. We have even released Indian soldier and American killer. She asked why we are not getting reply in same spirit. She said; however, it needs a lot of courage and moral strength to show this goodwill.
Ex-MNA Muhammad Laiq Khan said Aafia is away from her mother and children. He said our rulers are generous enough to release their enemies but they lack courage to demand their own daughter. He said we have been struggling for last 15 years for return of Aafia. He said Pakistanis are a nation that protects their daughters, but sadly some of our rulers sell our daughters. He said even Taliban remembered Aafia but Pakistani rulers forgot her.
At the end a birthday cake was sliced.
