ISLAMABAD: Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist and mother of three jailed in the US for almost a decade, herself does not want to return to Pakistan, a spokesman for the Foreign Office of Pakistan said.
The Government of Pakistan is looking into the prospects of Aafia’s return, FO spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal said during an interview with British newspaper The Independent’s Urdu service.
He said according to reports, she herself does not want to come to Pakistan.
Faisal said if Prime Minister Imran Khan and US President Donald Trump held a meeting, then discussion could be held on the exchange of Aafia and Dr Shakeel Afridi, a Pakistani doctor who had helped US authorities track down al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.
Commenting on the foreign policy of the country, he said it was going well and there was a hope for a thaw in relations with the new Indian government after the ongoing elections.
Responding to Faisal’s statement, Aafia’s sister Fowzia Siddiqui rejected it as “completely baseless”.
“If someone says that Aafia herself does not want to come to Pakistan, then this is a completely baseless thing,” she said.
Fowzia recalled the government had alluded to a good news by the month of March with regard to Dr Aafia’s release.
“But, now there is silence once again,” she lamented.
