KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — The high-profile arrest of a Pakistani woman suspected of Al Qaeda links casts a spotlight on an issue her nation's fledgling civilian government has been slow to confront: years of official secrecy surrounding the fate of hundreds of people rounded up as terrorism suspects.
Some human rights activists believe that Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani-born neuroscientist who appeared Tuesday in federal district court in New York, was originally "disappeared" by Pakistani authorities five years ago, possibly at U.S. behest.
American officials said this week that Siddiqui had been arrested in Afghanistan last month and flown to the United States on Monday after recuperating from a gunshot wound that authorities said she suffered in a shootout after her capture.
Siddiqui, who trained at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, initially dropped out of sight in 2003 in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, at a time when U.S. authorities wanted to question her about her suspected ties to Al Qaeda.
Human rights activists were divided over whether the Siddiqui case would ratchet up pressure on the 5-month-old Pakistani government to account for the whereabouts of hundreds of people who have been reported missing by their families. Many presumed detainees are believed to be languishing incommunicado, denied access to counsel but not charged with any crime.
"One hopes that this case is going to bring more attention to the issue of the 'disappeared,' " said Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan researcher for Human Rights Watch. His organization and other rights groups had raised suspicion that Siddiqui was secretly held at some point by U.S. or Pakistani authorities, or both.
The Pakistani government has never acknowledged detaining Siddiqui and made no statement Tuesday about her arrest. However, its diplomats in the United States have sought consular access to her while she remains in U.S. custody, Pakistani officials said.
Siddiqui appeared in court Tuesday to face accusations that she tried to kill U.S. soldiers and FBI personnel during an alleged struggle last month. Her lawyer, Elizabeth Fink, said Siddiqui hadn't received appropriate medical attention since being shot July 18, a charge denied by the government's lawyer.
Fink also said that the account by U.S. authorities that Siddiqui snatched the M-4 rifle from a U.S. soldier and tried to kill FBI agents and U.S. soldiers was "patently absurd."
