ISLAMABAD: The government has been urged to make serious efforts to extradite Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a US-trained neuroscientist, to Pakistan after a report in a US court termed the lady incapable of facing trial because of her poor mental health.

Dr. Aafia Siddiqui was reportedly arrested by the US officials on July 17 this year from Afghanistan and is accused of grabbing a US warrant officer’s rifle and firing at the interrogation team, which included two FBI agents. The officer then shot at her, injuring her with his pistol.

Human rights groups had declared Dr. Aafia Siddiqui missing for the past five years. Many believe that she may have been a victim of gruesome torture after her kidnapping with her children in March 2003 in Karachi and was secretly held in custody of either Pakistani or US authorities.

Chairman Senate’s Functional Committee on Human Rights Senator S M Zafar, while talking to Geo News, said that after the US report of Aafia’s inability to face court trial because of her mental health, the Government of Pakistan should make serious efforts to bring the Pakistani doctor back. He said he knew it was a difficult task but nothing was impossible.

He said what Aafia needed was a strong defence counsel team as the judge of the US court had already received a certificate from the psychological clinic about her mental health. “Now it is up to the defence counsel how he gets her out,” said the lawyer, adding: “I know the US laws and they would send Dr. Aafia to an asylum but would not extradite her to her homeland. Yet the government should make a serious effort if it is serious about its citizens.”