DPM Dar says Dr Aafia reference was ‘taken out of context’

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar has clarified that his recent remarks about Dr Aafia Siddiqui, made during a question-and-answer session at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, were “taken out of context”.

Dar, who is currently on an official visit to the United States, addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York before travelling to Washington, where he spoke at a session hosted by the Atlantic Council think tank.

During the event, Dar was asked about the incarceration of former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan. In response, he drew a comparison with Dr Aafia’s case, saying the matter was under judicial process and beyond the interference of any individual, including himself.

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“What happened on May 9… unfortunately, a man like me cannot even do anything. The due process of law has to take place — and it is in progress. So I think we should not politicise anything at this stage,” Dar said.

He added: “For example, if I say Aafia Siddiqui is here for decades and going to be — God knows — till when… I think it would be unfair. A due process of law has resulted in that action. The same applies to everybody. There’s no exception.”

He went on to state that being a popular political leader does not grant the right to take up arms, provoke unrest, or attack state institutions. “This is nothing but treason,” he said. “The due process of law will take its own course. It is the judiciary handling the matter… and like any democratic country, we hardly have any right to interfere in the judicial system.”

Following his comments, the statement drew widespread criticism on social media, prompting the deputy prime minister to issue a clarification.

In a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Senator Dar stated that his reference to Dr Aafia’s case was misunderstood and misrepresented in connection with the question regarding Imran Khan’s legal situation.

The foreign minister reaffirmed that successive PML-N governments had consistently provided full diplomatic and legal support for efforts aimed at securing Dr Aafia’s release — and would continue to do so until the matter is resolved.

“Every country has its own legal and judicial systems which must be respected — whether it is Pakistan or the United States,” he said.

He further underscored that the government’s position on Dr Aafia’s case remains “firm and unambiguous”.

Meanwhile, Dr Aafia’s lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, also criticised the deputy prime minister’s remarks, accusing him of undermining the case.

In a post on X, Smith wrote: “Sorry but this is idiotic! ‘Due process’ does not equal something where Aafia had no witnesses, they lied, and it was all false. That’s called a miscarriage of justice — not what’s ‘due’.”

He added: “The DPM appeared to be going out of his way to undermine Aafia’s case yesterday by acting like she got ‘due process’ when all she got was torture and a trial in New York, when all the real witnesses were in Afghanistan. I hope he has been reminded whose side he is on today.”

Dr Aafia, a Pakistani neuroscientist currently incarcerated in the United States, was sentenced to 86 years in prison on charges of attempted murder — a sentence significantly exceeding the US legal maximum of 10 years for the crime.

She has served 16 years behind bars and has been separated from her children for more than two decades.

Dr Aafia was reportedly intercepted in Karachi in March 2003 while travelling with her three children and subsequently disappeared for five years. It was later revealed in 2008 that she had been imprisoned in Afghanistan before being transferred to the United States.

While two of her children, Ahmed and Maryam, were released in 2008 and 2010 respectively, the whereabouts of her son Sulaiman remain unknown.