ISLAMABAD: US authorities have indicated to the Pakistan government that Dr Aafia Siddiqui, who is suffering from bullet wounds, will be shifted to another facility by next week, which is less intrusive and offers better medical care.
"While there has been no formal announcement yet, it has been informally communicated to us that Dr Aafia Siddiqui will be relocated to a different and better facility, most probably soon after the weekend," diplomatic sources here told media on Saturday.
This assurance was given after the Pakistan Embassy in Washington conveyed its concern to the US over media reports regarding Dr Aafia`s deteriorating state of health. While the Pakistan Mission also demanded that she must be transferred to a hospital, it is learnt that the government has been told by the US authorities that her hospitalisation is not necessary, sources said.
Another assurance given by the US authorities is that in the new facility Dr Siddiqui would not be subjected to body searches, before and after visits of her lawyers and Pakistan Embassy officials, as she is being made to face in Metropolitan Detention Centre, New York.
On the question of Pakistan`s request to the Karzai government for repatriation of Dr Aafia`s son, who is in the custody of Afghan authorities, the Foreign Office Spokesman told media on Saturday that so far there had been no formal response from that end.
But, according to reports from Kabul on Saturday, the Afghan foreign minister confirmed that her 11-year-old son was in custody of the Attorney General and said that Pakistan`s request was under consideration.
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Health
