Several rallies and protests have been organised by various religious political parties and their supporters in the aftermath of the Aafia trial in New York, demanding her release and return to Pakistan. Members of some non-conservative educational institutions have also joined in this flurry of emotional outbursts. The media has highlighted her ordeal without debating the downside of her story in objective detail. A whole generation of Pakistanis, grown up in an environment that discourages critical analysis and dispassionate objectivity in its educational institutions, has more or less allowed their emotions to be exploited.

The Aafia case is complex and cannot be seen in black and white. The grey lady is grey precisely because of her murky past and the question mark hanging over her alleged links to militants. After all, she was not a run-of-the-mill housewife. Her family’s silence during the years of her disappearance and her ex-husband’s side of the story certainly provide fodder to the opposing point of view that does not consider Aafia’s case as a straightforward one.

The right-wing parties and their supporters have once again played the card of anti-Americanism to attain their own political ends while simultaneously denouncing the human rights organisations for their silence. Our hatred of America, based on some very real grievances, also serves as a readily available smokescreen to avoid any rational thinking on any issue of national importance.

The response of the religious political lobby to Aafia’s plight is symbolic of our social mindset. We, while throwing stones at others, refuse to speak up for the downtrodden right under our nose.

Aafia has been dubbed as Pakistan ki beti; one wonders why the same right-wing lobby is impervious to the plight of many betis in Pakistan who are denied access to justice within the Pakistani judicial system. Even as they stir up our emotions in the name of Aafia’s motherhood and her suffering children they conveniently turn a blind eye to the plight of hundreds of mothers suffering in Pakistani jails. While unprecedented diplomatic efforts continue to bring Aafia back to Pakistan there are numerous women in Pakistani jails awaiting justice that could allow them to eventually return home. And this after the National Judicial Policy has directed the courts to dispose of these cases on priority basis!!

A survey of the jails in Punjab shows that about 45 per cent of female prisoners are awaiting trials. 80 per cent of all female prisoners are mothers and 25 per cent have children aged between 1 to 3 years. More than 70 per cent are illiterate which goes to show why almost 85 per cent of them are unaware of the status of their legal proceedings including those who are unacquainted with the charges registered against them; 35 per cent have failed to engage lawyers. According to another survey, in Punjab alone nearly 78 per cent of women prisoners complained of maltreatment in police custody and 72 per cent complained of sexual abuse. A female juvenile offender fares no better and, like her adult counterpart, spends long periods awaiting trial or hearing, often in violation of the law. She is even more vulnerable to abuse while in detention despite The Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2002. Judging from the statistics of Punjab it can be assumed that the situation in other provinces cannot be any better.

Although women police stations were established in response to complaints of custodial abuse, minimal efforts have been made to provide them with human and material resources as compared to regular police stations. Women are still being detained at regular police stations overnight despite court orders and regulations, and sexual abuse by police or guards remains a sad reality. Women prisoners are raped in police custody and in prison. Children born as a result of rape, as well as those who live with their mothers in jail usually grow up to be emotionally disturbed individuals.

In Aafia Siddiqui’s case the Pakistani government has spent $2 million already and the president has directed more legal assistance after her recent conviction on all seven counts. In Pakistani jails a majority of women continue to suffer due to financial deprivation because successive governments have failed to build a separate financial pool to foot the legal bills for these Pakistani betis.

According to a recent study, the prisons for women in Pakistan are in dire need of health facilities. In most of the rape cases, if the woman gets pregnant she ends up delivering the baby in jail where there is hardly any access to pre or post-natal care. This leads to an increased rate of infant mortality and maternal deaths. The women are undernourished and suffer from multiple health issues including mental health, substance abuse, physical abuse and resultant trauma. A large number of these women have a pre or post-arrest history of physical and emotional abuse and suffer from depression, anxiety and are more likely to attempt suicide. The study informs us that over the last couple of decades the number of women prisoners has increased by 273 per cent thereby multiplying the problems manifold. Wouldn’t it be more meaningful if the pro-Aafia lobby also pressurised the Pakistani government to spend another $2 million on improving the women’s jails in Pakistan?

If Aafia has been wronged the judicial process must be allowed to run its due course to redress her grievances. But the fundamental question is justice for Aafia Siddiqui or justice for all? Only when our religious and liberal lobbies decide to transcend their opposing worldviews to jointly work towards a just social system, will justice prevail in letter and spirit in Pakistan. Till then we can brace ourselves for more political stunts in the name of justice.

The writer is executive editor of the magazine Criterion, Islamabad. Email: talatfarooq11@gmail.com