Dr Aafia's son rejoins family

ISLAMABAD - The Afghan government on Monday handed over to Pakistan the son of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani national currently under detention in the United States and facing trial, charged with attempt to kill the American soldiers in Afghanistan.

Muhammad Ahmed, the 12-year-old son of Dr Aafia, was handed over to Pakistan’s Embassy in Kabul by the Afghan Interior Ministry officials.

“I can confirm that the boy is now in our custody and soon he would reach Islamabad from Kabul,” said the Foreign Office Spokesman Muhammad Sadiq while talking to TheNation after the news, aired by different news channels, of Dr Aafia’s son handover to Pakistan.

Ahmed was flown to Islamabad in the evening and handed over to Pakistan’s Interior Ministry officials by the Foreign Office authorities at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

The Interior Ministry’s officials shifted the boy in a helicopter to the Pakistani capital soon after he came out of the plane, thus disallowing the media persons waiting anxiously at the airport to interact with the ill-fated child.