LAHORE: Barrister Javed Iqbal Jeffery has filed an application with the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking directions for the federal government to inform the United States that Dr Aafia Siddiqui was, in fact, kidnapped along with her three children from Karachi.

Barrister Jeffery says either the attorney general or some other government functionary be directed to write to United States district courts that Dr Siddiqui was in fact kidnapped along with her three infants in Karachi in 2002 by American intelligence agencies while it was stated in American courts that she was arrested in Ghazni.

He says had she been arrested in Ghazni, both US and Afghan governments would have informed the Pakistan embassy in Kabul.

He said that after the recovery of Maryam, the daughter of Dr Siddiqui, from a US base in Afghanistan as confirmed by foreign and interior ministries of Pakistan, it was established that Dr Afia was abducted from Karachi.

The plea will be heard by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed on Tuesday (today).

Hazro bar team: A 10-member delegation of Hazro tehsil bar called on the Lahore High Court chief justice and apprised him of their problems.

They claimed that Hazro was the biggest revenue generating tehsil in Attock, but was still deprived of a civil courts complex.

They requested Chief Justice Khwaja Sharif for the construction of a court complex and appointment of judges at Hazro.

The chief justice directed the Attock district and sessions judge to visit the bar and submit a report to redress the problem of lawyers and residents of Hazro by posting a judicial officer there.

Source: Dawn

Date:4/20/2010