Teeth Maestro: Dr. Aafia The Missing Links: Khurram Ali Shafique Feb 04

I can feel Awab’s pain as someone who did follow this case so closely, and I do not mistake his patience now as anything due to lack of sensitivity. Contrary, I admire him for that.

Perhaps it would help to recap the points that were elaborated in the report ‘Don’t Blame the Victim‘ released from this forum in late 2008.

The basic stance was that in this case, a victim had been turned into the accused. That is an old tactic of patriarchy. In this case, there was not one allegations but four, and justice required that they should be addressed in the order in which they had appeared:

First allegation was brought against Aafia, long, long, long ago by US authorities that she had links with Al-Qaeda. This was dropped by the US authorities. So let it go (though they can be taken into account for raising false flags)

Second allegation was by international human rights group, prior to July 17, 2008, that Aafia was being held in secret prison, was unlawfully abducted and sexually tortured, and that he children had been abducted. This needed to be addressed before moving on. This allegation was AGAINST the US and allied authorities, and the most serious of all because two of those children are still missing, and could be dead.

Third allegation was by US authorities that on July 17, 2008, Aafia was found to be in possession of some objectionable and dangerous material. This was, again, not brought up, so it can be dropped. But it was a counter-allegation by the “accused”, which in this case was US authorities (and Afghan and Pakistani authorities too – i do not want to sound as if I am ignoring their alleged role in this matter, but since US authorities ended up having custody of the victim, the focus naturally shifts to them)

The fourth allegation was by US authorities that she fired at some US soldiers, etc. while she was being interrogated, after her alleged arrest in the event of #3. This is the only allegation on which Aafia has been tried. See, where it comes in the order?

People’s Resistance was/is not about bowing down to PUPPET JUDICIARIES. How many judges had been sworn in after Justice Chaudhry was kicked out? Was there not a replacement judiciary sitting in the Supreme Court which was “unanimous” against (y)our stand?

Yes, there should be no violence. Rather, I would say that there should not be even the thought of violence. Yet, the least we can do is to understand where we stand, and to focus on the moral victories which we have won recently. We are far from perfect, like everyone else. But like other decent nations, we too have set some golden precedents for the 21st Century, and PR has played such a major role in that. Its a new century, and we seem to have arrived here before many others. Lets keep peace for the sake of living up to our better traditions, and leaving behind our worst.

Do you think PR should do something for peace-keeping? There can be backlash, and unpleasant backlash, and perhaps if we could do something to prevent it, maybe even by way of coming up with some peaceful alternatives?

We are, after all, on the same side. Its a wonderful resource we have here.

Regards,

Khurram Ali Shafique

Find this LINK HERE Khurram Ali Shafique February 4, 2010