Pakistan vowed Friday to repatriate a scientist sentenced to an effective life term in the United States as hundreds of people protested against the ruling, denouncing their government and its ally Washington. Many in Pakistan, a key US ally in the war against militants and where anti-US sentiment also run high, believe Aafia Siddiqui, a 38-year-old neuroscientist, is innocent. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said his government told parliament “no stone had been left unturned” to secure the return of the “daughter of the nation”. “I told them (the United States) that if you release Dr. Aafia Siddiqui then it will improve your public image, even if you decrease your financial assistance for Pakistan,” he said. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the government would petition the US administration to review the sentence on a “humanitarian basis” and request that Siddiqui be handed over to Pakistan and dealt with under Pakistani law. Asked under what circumstances Siddiqui could return home, the foreign ministry said President Barack Obama could pardon her, or an agreement could be reached for her to serve at least part of her sentence in Pakistan. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan called on Islamabad and Washington to negotiate urgently for her repatriation on humanitarian grounds. “We fear that the verdict will be misunderstood in Pakistan and bring relations between the two allies in the war on terror under increased strain,” said its chairman Mehdi Hasan. Protesters in the city of Multan burnt US flags and pictures of President Barack Obama and former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, who many Pakistanis accuse of handing over Siddiqui to the United States. In Karachi, police baton charged protesters as they tried to march towards the US consulate. Some of the protesters were also detained, police said. The Pakistani Taliban also threatened “retaliatory strikes” to secure Siddiqui's release, but the group, which has made similar threats before, has so far failed to successfully carry out any overseas attacks. Hundreds more took to the streets in Lahore. Cricket hero-turned-politician Imran Khan led a rally to condemn the verdict as “unethical and inhuman.” In Islamabad, police stopped dozens of students from marching to the US embassy.
