Aafia, Adiala, and the architecture of the war on terror

There is something revealing about the geography of Muslim moral courage. Western Muslim leaders and institutions can summon magnificent clarity when the perpetrator is Washington, Delhi or Tel Aviv. They have spoken, often rightly and courageously, about Palestine, Kashmir, Islamophobia, Guantánamo, rendition, drone warfare and the obscenities committed under the banner of the War on Terror. The harder test begins when the road leads somewhere less comfortable. To Islamabad. And two names now expose that discomfort with unusual force: Aafia Siddiqui and Imran Khan. Aafia belongs to the beginning of the War on Terror. Adiala belongs to its afterlife. For more than two decades, Aafia Siddiqui has haunted Pakistan’s political conscience. She disappeared with her three children in 2003 before […]