Aafia Siddiqui, the forgotten Pakistani woman prisoner also named as "gray lady of Bagram" by a British journalist is a sorry tale of how Pakistani citizens are handed over to the Americans and forgotten by our people in the name of so called “War on terror”.
Women in Pakistan have always been at the receiving end; narratives of their sufferings are at times tragic. They are victims of domestic violence, killed in name of honour, often disgraced. But the story of Aafia Siddiqui is more tragic as she is not being victimised by her own family members but from “outsiders”.
Siddiqui, 36, who was wanted by US for alleged al-Qaeda membership, went missing five years ago with her three children in Karachi.
Her last known location was at or near the Karachi airport in March 2003, along with her three children. In 2004, she was identified along with six others by the United States Government as being "associated with al-Qaeda."
Her ex-husband, anæsthesiologist Mohammed Amjad Khan, is now working as a physician at a hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.
Khan and Siddiqui are divorced following vehement disagreements over how their three children should be educated. Siddiqui wanted the children to be educated in the West and to live in America. Khan wanted the children to be educated in Pakistan under strict Muslim supervision. Khan's family lives in a wealthy compound in Karachi.
Pakistani and American authorities have denied any knowledge about the whereabouts of Siddiqui.
'There are some reports suggesting that she was kidnapped by Pakistani intelligence agencies and handed over to the Americans who illegally moved her either to their detention centre at Guantanamo Bay or to Bagram (airbase) in Afghanistan.
Pakistan, a key US ally in the US-led fight against terrorism, has been blamed by rights organizations for illegally handing over Pakistani national as well as international terror suspects to US intelligence agencies in the so-called war against terrorism.
On July 6, 2007, Amnesty International mentioned Siddiqui as a possible CIA "Secret Detainee", although there is no evidence or reason given, and despite the fact she remains on the FBI's Seeking Information - Terrorism list as of the published date.
Siddiqui was an account holder at Fleet National Bank in Boston. According to documents obtained by Newsweek, in 2001, Siddiqui was making regular debit-card payments to an Islamic charity front, Benevolence International, which is now banned by the UN. In addition, Siddiqui was found to be active with the Al Kifah Refugee Center, another Islamic charity that was ostensibly raising funds for Bosnian orphans but which also was under federal investigation. Fleet Bank security officers began tracking a money trail from the Saudi Embassy that led to Siddiqui, resulting in more "links" that "shocked" the bank security officers, according to Newsweek
Subsequent to the Fleet National Bank investigation, Aafia Siddiqui was found to be purchasing high-tech military equipment, items that seemed unusual for her occupation as a microbiologist. According to Newsweek, FBI documents also stated that Khan, Siddiqui’s husband, had purchased body armor, night-vision goggles and a variety of military manuals that were supposed to be sent to Pakistan. Fleet National Bank accounts associated with the couple also showed "major purchases" from U.S. airlines and hotels in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and North Carolina as well as an $8,000 international wire transfer on December 21, 2001, to Habib Bank, a big Pakistani financial institution that has long been scrutinized by U.S. intelligence officials monitoring terrorist money flows.
Newsweek reported that Fleet National Bank investigators discovered that one account used by the Boston-area couple showed repeated debit-card purchases from stores that "specialize in high-tech military equipment and apparel", including Black Hawk Industries in Chesapeake, Virginia, and Brigade Quartermasters in Georgia. (Black Hawk's website advertises grips, mounts and parts for AK-47s and other military-assault rifles as well as highly specialized combat clothing, including vests designed for bomb disposal.)
Siddiqui's uncle claimed in the spring of 2003 that she had been detained in Pakistan and was being questioned by or for the FBI, which was denied by the FBI. The lead FBI investigating office in Boston also stated that as far as the FBI was aware, Siddiqui was not arrested by any other nation either. On 28 February 2007 Human Rights Watch said that Siddiqui "may have once been held" in secret detention by the CIA, but they were merely repeating the 2003 rumour, for which they supplied no evidence.
On May 26, 2004, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that reports indicated that al Qaeda planned to attempt an attack on the United States that summer or fall. In addition, Director Mueller named Aafia Siddiqui as "an al Qaeda operative and facilitator", and as one of seven al-Qaeda associates who were being sought in connection with the possible terrorist threats in the United States, though they did not have any reason at that time to believe that the seven were working in concert.
Despite the more serious allegations made by the Director on May 26, 2004, about Aafia Siddiqui, her FBI Seeking Information Alert continues to merely state that "Although the FBI has no information indicating this individual is connected to specific terrorist activities, the FBI would like to locate and question this individual." In contrast, the other four alleged al-Qaeda associates who had been named along with Siddiqui by the FBI Director on that day are all "being sought in connection with possible terrorist threats against the United States", according to the specific text in their Seeking Information Alerts.
It was also reported that after filing a habeas corpus writ petition in the Islamabad High Court [IHC], Dr. Aafia's friends and relatives were threatened by several state agencies of Pakistan to withdraw the case or face the same situation.
Some news of her whereabouts surfaced when a British Journalist and peace activist Yvonne Ridley while talking to reporters on July 7 2008 revealed that a  Pakistani woman has spent the last four years, and remains to this day, in solitary confinement at the United-States run Bagram airbase detention facility in Afghanistan, and is believed to be Aafia Siddiqui.
Ridley said she first learnt about the woman while reading a book by Guantanamo ex-detainee Moazzam Begg. Ridley added that one of the four Arabs who escaped from the Bagram cell in July 2005 also told a television channel that he had heard a woman’s cries and screams in the prison but never saw her. “I call her the Grey Lady of Bagram because she is almost a ghost, a spectre whose cries and screams continue to haunt those who heard her,” she said.
However despite this news hitting the headlines our Foreign office just expressed ignorance and denied knowledge of the alleged detention of a Pakistani and said the allegations would be looked into.
On August 5 2008, the attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michael Garcia, said in a statement that Aaafia Siddiqui believed to be linked to al-Qaeda who shot at U.S. military officers in Afghanistan was extradited to the United States to face trial
 “Aafia Siddiqui, 36, a Pakistani and former U.S. resident, was arrested July 17 by police in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, the attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michael Garcia, said in a statement.
At the time of her arrest Siddiqui was carrying inside her handbag documents on how to make explosives and descriptions of various U.S. landmarks, including in New York City, Garcia said, citing the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.
When officials arrived at her detention facility to pick her up one day after her arrest, Siddiqui opened fire with an assault rifle one of them had left on the floor, Garcia said.
Siddiqui fired two rounds without hitting anybody but was shot in the chest by an officer. The suspect was subdued, treated for her wound, and extradited to New York.
Siddiqui has been charged with attempting to kill U.S. officers and employees, and one count of assault. If convicted, she faces 20 years in jail on each charge, Garcia said.
Aafia Siddiqui is a grave example of how ignorant and selfless we have all become towards humanity and human rights. Even our so-called ‘ Human Rights Organisations’ have chosen to be silent on this grave issue. Not a single Pakistani Human Rights NGOs have raised their voices against this grave injustice towards a woman, a mother. No western woman could have ever been treated like this and ignored.
How many Aafia Siddiquis would be handed over to the US before we would rise against this injustice? It is high time we should rise as a nation against the victimisation of our women, children and men in the name of war on terror by the western forces and even our own intelligence agencies. We should tell the world that we would not allow our women to be victimised, tortured and raped at the hands of anyone.