Reply sought from foreign ministry

LAHORE - The Lahore High Court on Wednesday sought reply from ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior till August 17 about developments in the case of Dr Afia Siddiqui for bringing her back to the country.
The court sought the reply from the foreign ministry on a petition filed by Iftikhar Hussain Rajpoot for bringing her back to the country from a detention centre in the US.
Citing former President Gen Musharraf and former PM Shaukat Aziz as respondents, the petitioners have alleged before the court that since 1998 after the handing over of Aimal Kansi to the USA, Pakistan has given away more than 9000 citizens in the American custody.
The petitioner has also made the Secretary Interior Syed Kamal Shah as one of the respondents while submitting that he was indirectly involved in the abduction of Dr Aafia.
They requested the court to direct the government to take steps for bringing Dr Aafia back to the country, and in case the matter is not resolved, it must be taken to the International Court of Justice under the 1959 treaty that is signed by both the countries.
Barrister Syed Muhammad Iqbal Jaffree of Salarpur had filed a habeas corpus petition making secretary ministry of interior as respondent.
According to her family, Dr Afia was arrested from Karachi on March 30, 2003 outside her house and was taken to Afghanistan. Later, she was transported to the US, where she was being tried under terrorism charges for attempting to kill two American investigators. Two of her American national children are reportedly still missing while her one child has been handed over to her sister by the interior ministry.
LHC directs probe into Peggy Collin case
The Lahore High Court on Wednesday ordered the DPO Sheikhupura to initiate legal proceedings against former DPO Munir Chishti after recording the statement of French national, Peggy Collin, who alleged that Munir after recovering her 9-year-old son Omer Malik had handed him back to her former husband in violation of court’s order.