LHC asks Foreign Office to contact US court
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday ordered the Foreign Office to write a letter to an American court, hearing Dr Aafia’s case, bringing all material and documents about her innocence into the knowledge of the court.
The LHC also directed the Foreign Affairs secretary to provide all evidence of Dr Aafia’s innocence to her lawyers for presenting it before the court which was hearing her case.
Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry gave the order in a detailed judgment released here on Saturday on a petition seeking a court order to the federal government to submit evidence in the shape of documents to the American court regarding Dr Aafia’s innocence.
The court observed that since Dr Aafia was a Pakistani citizen, therefore, it was the duty of the government to make diplomatic efforts to defend her in foreign courts.
The court gave these directions on a petition filed by petitioner-counsel Barrister Iqbal Jaffery in which he submitted that Dr Aafia had gone missing on way to Karachi from Islamabad along with her three children in 2003.
He submitted that a case regarding her abduction was registered at Karachi. Thereafter, her two children were recovered from Afghanistan.
The petitioner prayed that since Dr Aafia was being tried by the American court, therefore, the Pakistan government be directed to furnish evidence in the shape of documents showing that she had been kidnapped on her way to Karachi along with children so that the lawyers defending her in the American court be able to properly defend her and take a definite stand.
The petitioner also prayed that the federal government be directed to write a letter to the American court, hearing Dr Aafia’s case, bringing into its notice all facts regarding her innocence so that she might get justice.
Earlier, on Friday, deputy attorney general Naveed Inayet Malik submitted that it was possible for the government to submit any document relating to investigation in Afia’s abduction case.
Present on the occasion, a Foreign Office official also assured the court that the government would make an all-out effort for bringing back Dr Aafia to Pakistan and it was excepted that the government would take up the matter with a high-level American delegation visiting Pakistan in near future.
Source: Dawn
Date:6/6/2010
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