Operation Redemption: Day 4: A Message of Thanks from the Family of Aafia...
19 January 2013
El-Hajj Mauri' Saalakhan
Assalaamu Alaikum
(Greetings of Peace):
Yesterday I sent out the
link to the latest edition of the online newsletter
for the international Aafia movement, but I wanted to
make sure folks read thechronological
progress report(contained
in the newsletter) from last year's efforts; and so
I'm presenting it below in full. The progress report
is followed by a few photos, news clippings, and a
short blog report by Sara Flounders of the
International Action Center.
(In one news report a
rhetorical question is echoed by former U.S.
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney:"Where
are the Muslim men?"Insha'Allah,
Muslim Men will be present and accounted for in this
three month mobilization effort!)
The year 1433/2012 was
one of the most challenging for me, personally, in a
number of ways. It was also, however, the
most fruitful year-to-date for our sister, Aafia
Siddiqui...and for this I am deeply, deeply grateful.
Dec 31, 2012
A Message of
Thanks from the Family of Aafia...
We send our thanks and
prayers to all of our friends around the world for
everything you have done for Aafia.
2012 marked nine years in
chains for Aafia, but the movement to free her made
huge gains. International support for the Free Aafia
campaign has expanded to include groups in two dozen
countries. Support for Aafia is nearly universal in
Pakistan despite the government's limitations on press
coverage, especially in the English language media,
and several official "protective" roadblocks.
Some of you marched
peacefully with thousands of other people on to the
streets to demand her freedom. Some of you sent Aafia
a postcard telling her that you love her, that you
believe her, and that you are praying for her and her
family. Some of you raised money. Some of you gave
your time. Many of you prayed. Many of you were there
among the thousands who joined the"Caravan
of Dignity" (Karwan-e-Ghairat) rallies.
You proved that a quilt
of interfaith harmony can be a powerful weapon against
injustice as Aafia was remembered at Ashura, Ramadan,
Naurooz, Easter, Holi, Diwali andChristmas,
united under a banner demanding that our common
humanity be recognized everywhere.
All of you are part of
our family in a way that we can't explain but we will
always be grateful for.
Below are some of the
notable events of 2012.
January:
A fatwa from a senior
religious body in Makkah, Saudi Arabia is made public
calling for support for securing Aafia's freedom. It
is censored in the Pakistani media and Saudi officials
asked the family not to make a public issue of it.
Pakistani agencies have repeated this message to us
and added "or
else".
February:
On February 10th a large
peaceful rally near the US consulate in Karachi was
violently assaulted. In the unprovoked attack
coordinated by Pakistani and foreign security
personnel using water cannons and baton charges,
several people were seriously hurt and needed
hospitalization including Aafia's sister, Dr. Fauzia
and Altaf Shakoor. Our sources told us that the slogan
"86 years=Bullshit" that had been displayed at an
earlier demonstration offended someone in the
consulate who demanded retribution.
Far from silencing us, it
brought us an international spotlight and became a
catalyst for a major series of events across South
Africa. This kicked off a successful campaign which
has now multiple active chapters with new ones opening
in neighboring African countries.(more
here)
March:
The ninth anniversary of
the kidnapping of Aafia and her three children is
marked by candlelight vigils and rallies across
fifteen countries including a vigil outside the United
States' embassy in London, a rally outside the Federal
Courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, just a few miles from
where Aafia is being held at Carswell Prison, and a
large demonstration outside theUS
consulate in Johannesburg, South Africa.(more
here)
May:
For several years the
Pakistani TV channel ARY has made a tradition of
dedicating their Mother's Day morning show to Dr.
Aafia and her children. A worldwide audience watched
Ahmed and Maryam as they continue their journey from
trauma to normalcy.(video
here)
On this same occasion we
were also reminded of the baby Suleman who was only 6
months old when abducted. His fate remains a mystery.
Little interest is shown by Pakistan's authorities. As
one official said to our family, "He was just a
Pakistani kid - who cares?" *(Ahmad and Maryam were
born in the United States and are American citizens.
Suleman, born in Pakistan, was just a Pakistani kid.)(more
here)
July:
An Independence Day
campaign to send tens of thousands of cards to the
White House was launched and over 50,000 were mailed
world wide.
As our successes grew,
the shadowy security agencies were not idle. A
malicious rumor of Aafia's death was spread. Aafia is
kept is total isolation and had no contact with family
or even lawyers so we were in no position to verify.
This was eventually proven to be nothing more than a
spiteful response to the campaign directed at Aafia's
elderly mother.
During the Ramadan, two
significant developments occurred. The American
government confirmed that the Pakistani government had
never made a formal request for Aafia's repatriation
and so the United States could take no action. This
exposed the complicity of some highly placed Pakistani
authorities in keeping Aafia locked up.(more
here)
The second development
was perhaps the most dramatic of this entire ordeal.
Aafia spoke. Her own words. Her own voice. A video
from 1991 of nineteen year old Aafia giving a talk on
the Role of Women in Islam appeared on YouTube. The
video garnered 100,000 views in days, despite a news
media black out by Pakistani, Turkish, and Arab TV
stations. While acknowledging its authenticity,
"editorial" decisions prevented the video from being
broadcast or even mentioned.(video
here)
August:
Former United States
Attorney General Ramsey Clark visited Pakistan. He
described Aafia's imprisonment and the underlying
premise as unjustifiable and called the American
system in this case "unfair" and terming Aafia's trial
"illegal".(more
here)
September:
Former United States
Senator Mike Gravel visited Pakistan to emphasize that
this was purely a political case and its solution lay
in the political arena. He urged action, making the
famous comment, "If the Pakistani government took
serious action, Aafia could be home in two days".(more
here)
October:
A delegation of US
antiwar groups led by UNAC and Code Pink came to
Pakistan to protest the evils of the "collateral
damage" of the war on terror, including the drone
attacks and the case of Dr. Aafia.(more
here)
December:
Former United States
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and International
Action Center (IAC) director Sara Flounders visited
Pakistan and spent a "Free Aafia Week" across
Pakistan, again highlighting the inaction on the part
of the Pakistani government.
(more here)
Our campaign websites
were hacked and selective data damaged. Aafia's sister
was detained multiple times and her family threatened.
Her livelihood placed at risk when her clinic, one of
the few in Pakistan that treats epilepsy, was targeted
under the guise of "extortion".
Also in 2012, Khurshid
Mehmood Kasuri, the foreign minister for the former
military dictator Pervez Musharaf, admitted in his
infamous tweet:"I'm
so sorry for handing over the innocent @DrAafiaSiddiqui
to the Americans. It was my biggest mistake
ever!.Khurshi Kasuri"
Not surprisingly, after
this tweet went viral, Mr. Kasuri removed it, but he
has not repudiated it either.
And these are just the
highlights!
By God's grace, 2012 was
eventful and has set the stage for more in 2013. We
are energized by the success of so many events and the
growing international support.
We wish all
sincere supporters a happy, healthy, safe and
prosperous 2013...
From Consul To Terrorist: The Only Faction Active oOn The Scene Because Everybody Else Has Left The Arena :: EsinIslam The Muslim World Portal For Islamic News And Opinions
From Consul To Terrorist: The Only Faction Active oOn The Scene Because Everybody Else Has Left The Arena
14 January 2013
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed
As soon as I heard the name Iyad Ag Ghaly in relation
to the events in Mali I began to wonder if this could
be the same man from the same country? Could it really
be him? Iyad Ag Ghaly heads up the military operations
of armed terrorist groups in northern Mali; whilst
there was a man with the same name who served as
Mali's consul in Jeddah. I called some friends and
confirmed that Iyad Ag Ghaly is indeed the same man
that I met at Jeddah's Hilton hotel less than three
years ago.
We are facing a truly strange world where those who
are legitimate today could be fugitives tomorrow.
At the time, I knew-from those who had dealt with
Ghaly as a Tuareg tribal chief and diplomatic
consul-that he was the best source to find
intermediaries to negotiate the release of hostages
taken in the Azawad region. Now, he is said to be
commander of the Ansar Dine movement fighting the
Malian army, as well as international French and
African forces.
When I read a profile about him in yesterday's Asharq
al-Awsat newspaper, I was even more confused, for this
stated that he was close to Libyan dictator Muammar
Qadhafi who reportedly sent him to fight in Lebanon.
Yet, Ghaly only recently displayed extremist
tendencies.
This kind of confusion and uncertainty has become
quite common as shown by the emergence of extremists
like Tarek al-Zomor and Mohamed al-Zawahiri on Egypt's
political scene. So how did a man like Iyad Ag Ghaly
turn from being a moderate Sunni Muslim to an
extremist armed fighter? Is it rational to suppose
that a man in his fifties, like Ghaly, should suddenly
become radicalized? This is truly hard to believe. I
sense that this may be some kind of political maneuver
where politicians have pretended to adopt extremist
ideologies in order to recruit impulsive youths. These
politicians provide these youth with funding under the
pretext of ?religious duty?, convincing them to
sacrifice their lives for a false cause in return for
a place in heaven! Since there is a general
international lack of will to fight anywhere in the
world, the French-alongside a few African states-will
fight this war on their own before realizing that
desert wars never end and withdraw. What makes matters
more complicated is that conflicts that involve
religious slogans and tribal powers can last for
decades without any side being defeated.
Our problem with those who are keen on fighting these
extremists, like the French today and the Americans
yesterday in Afghanistan and perhaps tomorrow in
Syria, is their inability to understand the
fundamental nature of the problem. These extremist
groups represent the smallest part of the equation;
rather the greatest and most important challenge is to
confront extremist ideologies. Had the West, as well
as the Arab countries involved and other relevant
parties invested their money and effort in fighting
extremist ideologies, this crisis might have come to
an end. Instead they spent billions of dollars on tens
of thousands of soldiers, advanced weaponry, and
combat drones managing to eliminate a number of Al
Qaeda's leaders; however Al Qaeda's ideology remains
the same and in fact continues to spread like a
disease. Most people find it easier to jump to easy
conclusions by laying the blame on one group or
another like Sunnis, Shi'ites, clerics, or even
religion as a whole; however all these groups were
present prior to this and were never a source of
trouble.
We are living in a different world in which political
powers are establishing and nourishing extremist
ideologies and generations. These politicians have the
project, the expertise, and the will to propagate such
extremist ideology and they are practically immune to
punishment because the wrong parties are always held
accountable. Who could have imagined that Mali would
become an international battlefield after Afghanistan?
The West is repeating the same mistake in Syria by
allowing it to fall prey to extremists who are
emotionally manipulate the general public under the
pretext that they are their only source of salvation
from the tyranny of the Assad regime. In reality, they
are the only faction active on the scene because
everybody else has left the arena.
Al
Rashed is the general manager of Al -Arabiya
television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of
Asharq Al- Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly
magazine, Al Majalla. He is also a senior Columnist in
the daily newspapers of Al Madina and Al Bilad. He is
a US post-graduate degree in mass communications. He
has been a guest on many TV current affairs programs.
He is currently based in Dubai.
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