The grey lady of bagram

Five years ago in March 2003 a travesty happened right here in Karachi. A mother of three young children whilst on her way to the airport was picked up by Pakistani Intelligence agencies and vanished into the black hole that are US detention centers worldwide. That woman is known as Afia Siddiqui. At the time of her arrest she was 30 years old and the oldest of the children arrested with her was 4 the youngest a month old.

Over the years Pakistani officials were questioned again and again by her family by journalists and by the media of her whereabouts, which at first were reported to be unknown and not in custody. However when reports of a woman called ‘Prisoner 650′ surfaced it was discovered that she was being detained in Afghanistan’s Bagram prison and that she had been tortured to the point where she had lost her mind. Britain’s Lord Nazeer Ahmed, (of the House of Lords), asked questions in the House about the condition of Prisoner 650 who, according to him is physically tortured and continuously raped by the officers at prison. Lord Nazeer has also submitted that Prisoner 650 has no separate toilet facilities and has to attend to her bathing and movements in full view of the other prisoners.

What became of her children no one knows, what condition she is in right now no one knows. Even if she has links to Al Qaeda does that justify her torture? Does it justify the young children whose lives have been ripped apart by intelligence agencies on the behest of what and who?

Also, on July 6, 2008 a British journalist, Yvonne Ridley, called for help for a Pakistani woman she believes has been held in isolation by the Americans in their Bagram detention center in Afghanistan, for over four years. “I call her the ‘grey lady’ because she is almost a ghost, a specter whose cries and screams continues to haunt those who heard her,” Ms Ridley said at a press conference.

Under immense world wide pressure the authorities have now acknowledged that yes there is such a prisoner and she has ties with some top Al Qaeda leaders and is under detention in Afghanistan. This information comes to the world courtesy of the BBC who claim that an agent visited Dr. Afia Siddiqui’s brothers house and admitted to the fact that Dr. Afia is indeed in solitary confinement within a prison in Afghanistan and in serious medical condition.

I cannot begin to fathom the crimes she must have committed to be subjected to this. Even if she is the right hand of OBL I really cannot understand the crime of her kids in the whole matter. I shudder to imagine the many others who rot in these hell holes being tortured and abused day and night on the pretext of interrogation.

They say during war such things happen. They tell us this is necessary to protect our way of life. They say collateral damage is unavoidable, what they do not say is that war itself is avoidable. I wonder how many top leaders of Al Qaeda have been arrested by Dr Afias detention? What clues she has provided? To me nothing can be achieved with senseless acts like Dr Afias Kidnapping and detention aside from providing more subject matter for people to hate with. All I can plead for is for the governments and people involved in this war to give peace a chance. To stop this madness before it consumes us.

Frankly being a parent makes things like this absolutely indigestible. I am afraid sleep will not come easy tonight. However we all must keep asking these questions, if nothing else then to preserve our own sanity.