Been thinking about what to say about the whole "Qaum ki beti" (Daughter of the Nation, never mind that she's a US Citizen) Dr. Aafia (Siddiqui) issue. Then, partly as a way to check out if the new Google Buzz is any good for public discourse, I posted the following on it:
My take is that the way she's been railroaded through the justice system and "convicted" on what is oh, so apparently a trumped-up charge is definitely very, very scary. But is she the "cooked up" "imaginary enemy" that Mike Ghouse of the World Muslim Congress would have us think? And if she's not, where does that leave those of us who do think that railroading her is actually playing into the hands of neo-purists in this here "transcendent struggle" against fanaticism/fundamentalism to use John McCain's words, or the existential fight of the common Muslim against the twin evils of neo-imperialism and takfiri fanaticism, to paraphrase Zaid Hamid?
1 comment:
As far as I can tell, she might have been complicit in a terror organisation. But she was certainly terrorised back, and her conviction for an assault that the defense clearly demonstrated she did not do makes the situation even more horrifying.
She was no saint. She likely was also involved in potential terror activities back in the day. But now she's been driven mad, shot and left untreated for days and then thrown in jail for a crime she actually DIDN'T commit.
It's a horror. Convict her for her crimes, sure. But this is only proving how partisan and horrible the US government can be, which saddens me. Our ideals are what supposedly set us apart from those who would harm us; instead, we are inhumane monsters.
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