I WOULD like to clear some misunderstandings expressed in M.A Faridi’s opinion (Nov 10) regarding Ms Ridley’s press conference.

Ms Maryam (Yvonne Ridley) does not believe the statement of American ambassador in the UK regarding Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s illegal detention in the Bagram Jail but she has submitted the opinion of the American ambassador and said that if the American ambassador had been right in his opinion, then he must have given the identification of that woman who was being brutalised in the Bagram Jail and, according to them, released.

She admitted that the American ambassador did not provide details of that woman. Ms Ridley emphasises that she has proofs that Prisoner 650 was a Pakistani woman, most probably she was Dr Aafia Siddiqui.

Addressing at the Faran Club in Karachi on Nov 4, she said the American administration had never been trustworthy.

She gave several examples from the past that Americans had been lying for their own benefits. She also condemned the deceitful and mendacious behaviour of the United Kingdom and other European countries.

She said that the war against terrorism was actually a conspiracy against Muslims. She believes that Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s own statement on her meeting Pakistani senators is far more reliable than American regarding her agonising detention in the Bagram Jail.

Maryam Ridley in her speech said that “we all together must raise the voice against this cruel and horrid behaviour of the Pakistani military official who had handed over her own sister along with her three innocent children to the FBI in March 2003.”

We must pray for Maryam Ridley for her remarkable efforts for innocent women and children held in Afghanistan.
Source: Dawn
Date:11/15/2008