How Pakistan continues to support international terrorist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui
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The Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs submitted a written response regarding the convicted international terrorist woman Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, in the Senate session of Pakistan. According to this submission, a fee of USD 18,500,000 was paid for the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. In other words, Pakistan has spent a humongous amount of tax payer’s money on a terrorist, mostly because she is supported by other terrorist outfits in the country. Some background on Dr. Aafia Siddiqui:
In March 2003, Pakistani neuroscientist Dr. Aafia went missing from Karachi. Later it was revealed that, in 2010, she was convicted for attacking American soldiers in Afghanistan, and sentenced to 86 years in prison. She was convicted of seven crimes, including murderous attacks on American soldiers and FBI officials in Afghanistan.
The US Department of Justice had declared her a ‘member and facilitator of Al-Qaeda’. However, supporters of Aafia Siddiqui condemn this sentence. For the past several years, a movement has been going on for his return to Pakistan, which is headed by Dr. Aafia’s sister, Dr. Fawzia Siddiqui. Alongside, a number of incidents have taken place which indicate that this ongoing movement is supported by terrorist elements.
In January 2022, Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British-born Pakistani citizen, took four people hostage in a Jewish synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. He was later killed in police firing, while the hostages were safely rescued. According to officials, Malik Faisal Akram wanted to talk to Aafia Siddiqui, who is incarcerated in a federal prison in Texas. Faisal was also a vocal supporter of 9/11, and he made the journey from UK to Texas with a specific aim to disrupt and create chaos. According to the SITI Intelligence Group, an organization that tracks the activities of global jihadist organizations, the main preachers of al-Qaeda on social media, especially Telegram, greatly praised the Texas incident.
This is not the only such incident of support to Aafia Siddiqui. Previously, various extremist groups active in Algeria, Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan have demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui in exchange for hostages. Somt of these incidents cost lives of dozens of people, who have been killed by the terrorist supporters of Aafia Siddiqui.
In 2014, the Yemen branch of al-Qaeda kidnapped an American journalist, Luke Sommers. The abductors demanded the release of not only Aafia Siddiqui, but also the release of militant leader Sheikh Umar Abdul Rahman, who was imprisoned in the American jail. However, on the refusal of the American government, the said journalist was killed. Kayla Mueller, an American social worker engaged in aid operations in Syria, was kidnapped by the extremist organization ISIS in 2013. A year later, her release was offered in exchange for Aafia Siddiqui. When this demand was not met, Mueller was killed. In 2014, ISIS had demanded a $132 million ransom in exchange for the release of American journalist James Foley, who was kidnapped from Syria, as well as the release of Aafia Siddiqui. The US administration had rejected both the demands of the militants, on which ISIS militants killed James Foley. In another gruesome incident, Al-Qaeda-linked Algerian militants had taken dozens of people working in an oil field in the northern desert as hostages, including American citizens. The captors demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui as well as the Egyptian-origin Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, who is imprisoned in an American prison. Sheikh Omar was convicted of the 1993 New York bombings in 2010. Meanwhile, acts of terrorism have also taken place in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the name of Aafia Siddiqui. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has also been linking various terrorist attacks in the country to the handing over of Aafia Siddiqui to the US authorities and the lack of serious efforts to secure her release by the government of Pakistan. In March 2013, the TTP claimed responsibility for the suicide attacks on the judicial complex in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying that the attack was carried out by the organisation’s Aafia Siddiqui Brigade. It was also said by the TTP that the judiciary has failed to protect innocent citizens like Aafia Siddiqui due to which they are being targeted.
In July 2011, the TTP abducted Swiss couple Oliver David and Mrs Tanelia from Loralai area of Balochistan. Videos released by the TTP showed them in the custody of the Taliban who were demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui in exchange for their freedom. The Swiss couple was rescued in an operation during March 2012, from North Waziristan. Similarly, the Afghan Taliban abducted a British social worker named Linda Nengrow from Kunar province of Afghanistan and demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui in exchange for her release. Apart from this, Afghan Taliban and TTP have been using the name of Aafia Siddiqui in several operations. According to U.S. officials, Aafia Siddiqui was arrested from Ghazni, Afghanistan, where the Afghan police found some documents in glass jars and bottles containing bomb-making methods. The statement said that Dr. Aafia was locked in a room when a team of FBI and American soldiers arrived to investigate her. She fired two shots at them from behind the curtain, but could not hit anyone. A clash ensued and Dr. Aafia was injured in the retaliatory firing by an American soldier.
In a meeting with a delegation of Pakistani senators in the United States, Aafia Siddiqui had claimed that she was tortured in the American prison of Bagram in Afghanistan before being brought to the United States. Mushahid Hussain Syed, who was present at the meeting in 2008, later shared with the media that Aafia Siddiqui alleged she was abducted from Islamabad and injected with anesthesia. She added that when she regained consciousness, she was imprisoned in Bagram Jail.
According to the secret documents (Guantanamo Files) published by the British newspaper The Guardian, Pakistani neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui tried to smuggle explosives into the United States and offered to make biological weapons to Al-Qaeda. The charges stemmed from U.S. intelligence analysis and information obtained through direct interrogation of at least three senior members of al-Qaeda, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks in the United States. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, known as ‘KSM’ in intelligence circles, was waterboarded 183 times during his detention. Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is also said to be the wife of Khalid’s nephew . The Guardian printed that according to the information obtained from the Guantanamo files, Dr. Aafia was a member of an Al-Qaeda cell based in Karachi during 2002 and 2003. This particular cell had planned further attacks at Heathrow Airport and in Pakistan. The members of this cell planned to smuggle explosives into the US under the guise of exporting textile goods. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad mentioned in his statement to the authorities that this explosive material was intended to target important economic targets in the United States. The operation was to be carried out through an import-export business run by Saifullah Paracha, a Pakistani businessman. Saifullah Paracha’s file at the Guantanamo detention center stated that his responsibility in the project was to obtain rental housing and provide administrative support. It should be noted that Saifullah Paracha was recently released after 20 years of imprisonment.
Dr. Aafia was alleged to have gone to America in 2003 to help a man named Majid Khan obtain US travel documents in connection with the same operation. Majid Khan was to carry out bomb attacks on petrol pumps and water treatment plants in America. Majid Khan has also been released by America this year. However, according to secret documents, Majid Khan gave a statement during detention that he had given Dr. Aafia money, photos and filled in a form to request asylum in America to make it possible for her to travel to America. After Dr. Aafia went to America, she opened a post office box in the name of Majid Khan, for which she used his driver’s license. However, this plan failed and after Majid Khan was arrested in Pakistan, he was transferred to Guantanamo Detention Center.
There is a lot of protest among various Pakistani circles, who are questioning whether the government of Pakistan would think of spending money on releasing some of their other prisoners, for example the thousands languishing in jails in the middle east or Turkey. They are calling out their own government for protecting the interests of international terrorists who have caused the deaths of sores of people all across the world. This astounding admission of financial support to terrorists by the country’s own Foreign office puts more question marks on the reputation of Pakistan.
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