Senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Qadir Khan Mandokhail expressed disappointment over Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar’s recent comments regarding Dr. Aafia Siddiqui during Batool Rajpoot’s show “BOL Reports.”
Qadir Mandokhail said that just a day after Aafia Siddiqui’s sister met with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Ishaq Dar made an inappropriate statement about the case. He added that as someone who has represented Aafia Siddiqui as a lawyer, he found Dar’s remarks deeply upsetting and unnecessary.
He explained that Aafia Siddiqui was accused of seizing a gun at the Bagram jail in Afghanistan, but was arrested in Karachi while heading to the airport. During the arrest, a child was also killed. “I believe the case was unjust. The incident happened in Afghanistan, the arrest was made in Karachi, and the sentence was handed down in a U.S. prison — what kind of justice is this?” he questioned.
Mandokhail strongly stated that Aafia Siddiqui did not deserve to be punished in this case, and he blamed Ishaq Dar for damaging the legal effort. “He should not have made such a statement,” he said.
“We Stand with Aafia Siddiqui – Always Have, Always Will”: Nihal Hashmi
Also speaking on “BOL Reports”, PML-N leader Nihal Hashmi responded by saying that judging someone based on just a part of their speech or statement is unfair. He reaffirmed that the government’s official stance remains that “We stood with Aafia Siddiqui, we stand with her now, and we will continue to stand with her.”
He added that the Prime Minister has clearly said that whatever steps need to be taken will be taken, and the public will be kept informed of all developments.
Nihal Hashmi also criticized political point-scoring during judicial proceedings, mentioning past incidents where Rana Sanaullah’s wife was not allowed to deliver medicine and how Nawaz Sharif was not permitted to meet his wife. “We didn’t treat PTI that way,” he claimed.
