Rumor Mill: Dr. Aafia’s missing children possibly linked with Bilal Musharraf

The Rumor Mill series on this blog is basically based on a number of tips that have been heard or received by this scribe in someway or another, as customary of Pakistani politics the grapevine reports tend to carry a lot of weight. Problem with these grapevine reports is that it can very well be just another hoax or a scam, so one does have to swallow the pill, aggregating all the necessary information trying ones best to figure out the truth.

Late last night I received a tip from a trusted source about Dr. Aafia’s missing children and I quote

Some reliable sources believed that Dr. Afia’s both children are being brought up at an Edhi Home in Karachi, it is rumored that two days ago Bilal Musharraf came to Karachi for a visit and met with Abdus Sattar Edhi for inquiring about the latest status of these children which had been handed over by Bilal for shelter. Sources reveal that Bilal Musharraf was part of the location and abduction of Dr. Aafia. It is also reported that maybe one of the youngest infant may have died in custody


Initially, it made no sense but when I stumbled across two separate news items published in an English daily, it promoted me to take a swipe at this rumor.

In one of the earlier press conferences addressed by Dr. Aafia’s sister Dr. Fauzia a journalist specifically asked about the whereabouts of the missing children, she declined to comment, but if one were to hear the entire discussion, Dr. Fauzia in essence and for the sake of neutrality flatly refused to blame anyone or point fingers to accuse who was actually, simply pleading to the media and the people of Pakistan to bring back her sister to Pakistan

“From me and my family, we do not blame any Muslim for what has been happening to our sister for the last five years; Our Allah will take revenge for us, The government had been in contact with us during the last five years and has been saying that Dr Aafia would be back in a few days.” She said that the government had been informing the aggrieved family that Dr Aafia was fine with her three children but the way she appeared in the court in New York has shaken the entire ill-fated family. “Now we have been told that all the three children were fine but looking at Aafia’s condition we fear that the children might be in danger,” said the sister of Dr Aafia The News

Since a long time the government was telling them that the children are with Aafia, but it is quite possible that yet again the government continues to lie to try and cover up the actually story, which is highly possible. What made this mystery even more puzzling was when on Saturday, the 8th of August, a 70 years old lawyer, Barrister Iqbal Jafferi filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court where he has accused President Pervez Musharraf’s son, Bilal Musharraf, for taking the bounty money that the FBI had announced for the head of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.

While the news reports a lawyer from the USA who knows Dr Aafia since her university days, that a huge sum of money was pocketed while handing over the FBI-wanted Dr Aafia Siddiqui to the US forces. She said that it was not known who collected that reward money from the FBI but someone gathered dollars for Dr Aafia Siddiqui The News

By coincidence the very same day Bilal Musharraf happens to arrive in Karachi and immediately went to meet Abdus Sattar Edhi, and both are said to have taken a special tour of various Edhi Centers in Karachi on Bilal Musharraf’s request.

Off all the information pouring in there is still no report to suggest the fate of the youngest child, lets just hope all are safe and reunited with their mother very soon.


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32 responses to “Rumor Mill: Dr. Aafia’s missing children possibly linked with Bilal Musharraf”

  1. d0ct0r Avatar
    d0ct0r

    Abdus Sattar Edhi better make his position clear,otherwise if all of it is exposed later then his explanations won’t be enough and the nation would never forgive him for aiding a brutal dictator

  2. Salman Avatar
    Salman

    I am not a believer in rumors but in Pakistan, anything is possible. I agree with d0ct0r, that if anyway Abdul Sattar Edhi is associated with this, which I certainly hope he is not, he will not be forgiven by the nation.

    What really has surprised me about this story of Dr. Aafia is, where the heck is her ex-husband? Why has he not made any statement? I just have a hard time believing that a father of three children does not care and just moved on with his life.

    This whole story of Dr. Aafia is still an enigma and only in time, we all will learn of the truth.

  3. d0ct0r Avatar
    d0ct0r

    i won’t be really surprised if he eventually is found out to be aware of this henious crime being commited right under his nose,coz the poor old man is just doing social work and he often gets stuck between a rock and a hard place. In past too he have been threatened by terrorists from MQM on different ocassions(threatening his ambulance drivers,stealing dead bodies from edhi morgue,shooting dead edhi ambulance driver on 12th may 2007 etc).so if dictator or his goons must have threatened him to stay silent then i guess he has not much choice but to obey,BUT now he better make his position clear urgently if all of it is true.

  4. Osman Avatar
    Osman

    Whether a rumor or not. IF this story is
    spread around, it is likely to bring out the
    truth, because the truth will have to be told
    in order to refute this.

  5. Osman Avatar
    Osman

    Anways you can always as bilal

    he works for e planet ventures…

    http://www.eplanetventures.com/en/index.html

    contact is..
    http://www.eplanetventures.com/en/contact/contact_bangalore.html

    Courtesy google

    bilals profile is

    http://www.eplanetventures.com/en/team/team_ic_na_musharraf.html

    he can be found on linkedin also..

    ePlanet Ventures contact.

    Mailing Address
    ePlanet Ventures
    5300 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 500
    San Jose, CA 95129

    Driving Directions

    Telephone +1 408 236 6500
    Fax +1 408 554 6600

  6. anas Avatar

    WoW! What a way of partial criticism. If this is true, then Edhi guy is to be blamed equally. And this sounds absolutely ridiculous to me. Another series of anti-Musharraf-series on TM.

  7. Bull Avatar
    Bull

    This is insane awab 🙂 i wonder how an educated person like you can write such bullshit

    Yellow journalims

  8. darakhshanda Avatar
    darakhshanda

    this is rubbish…we should be more focused on getting dr Aafia and innocent people like her out of the clutches of these evils….rather than spreading these bogus lies….when chips are down , everybody is taking a shot at Musharrafs…..I agree this is yellow journalism.

  9. Sher Afgun Avatar
    Sher Afgun

    well whatever amercia is amercia

    the king of this world !

  10. Obi Wan Kenobi Avatar
    Obi Wan Kenobi

    Teeth, this is insane. Kuch sharam karo and don’t publish rumors please. You know what Islam tells about spreading news w/co confirming. It is still lie even if you say that yo uare not sure but spread the news.

    Why all in world, Bilal would take responsibility of those kids. He has been in US and doing wonderful job and has awesome career w/o support of his dad. He was there for volunteer work as ePlanets supports lots of organizations. Shame on you and shame on this post. Only if you can use common sense then you would see the stupidity of this post.Do you believe that any expat would ever like to return Pakistan when he see charges like these against educated and well trained people.

    You are no different then those stupid journalists who would just create news and would say that their "reliable" source told them.

    Shame on you Awab. Shame on you.

  11. Teeth Maestro Avatar

    @obi – you really crack me up

    Well my take on this is probably slowly going a little in favor of bilal despite all the negativity the more I look at Dr Aafia’s incident I think the govt did not want to cough up the kids 5 years back which would have meant accepting the disappearance – so someone acted and left them in the hands of edhi and it could be possible that it may have been bilal – who may have done as a noble deed since his father and bush could not accept responsibility of the disappearance – it may have been better for the kids – then to take the afghanistan track

    This in no way defends the illegal deportation of Dr Aafia – as she in my view is innocent since no formal terrorism related charges have been made on her

    That said – I never reported this as a news item and deliberately used the word rumor so take this as it is

  12. Obi Wan Kenobi Avatar
    Obi Wan Kenobi

    Awab, do you really think Bilal sitting in US was wondering about those 3 kids whose mom were lifted[and denied about that] by agencies and he flew from USA to Pakistan to give those 3 kids to Edhi. You think there was no one in whole Pakistan to do that and Bilal has to come down here to do that. I accept that treatment to Dr Aafia has been unfair but man this rumor is what makes Pakistan media junk. And given the mentality of Pakistani people, they would treat this is as an authentic news.

    I told you that Islam forbids to spread rumors even if you prefix it with the bold text that it is rumor. You decide man if this is a lie or not. I can write any thing about your wife being with Imran Khan last night and say that it is a rumor from very authentic source, how would you feel. Please write responsibly, every one has self respect.

    Do not delete this comment if you believe in free media. I am just reporting rumor about your wife from very reliable source of mine.

  13. Teeth Maestro Avatar

    @Obi

    Mind you – the initial rumor that I got – I did not act on it – but only when tid bits of news reports emerged the next day did the rumor make a little sense – My analysis is based on what information is available – just trying to make sense of the chaos that has besieged the country – I have not even touched the mess in Islamabad as yet – as I think that is truly a merri-go-round and we the people of Pakistan are simply getting a ride for our life.

    As far as censoring the comments – 😉 I only do – when there is profanity as that is not Free speech – rest you very well know that I do not believe in censoring a point of view no matter how averse it may be – I truly believe if you have a point of view – it should be heard, as I cannot be always right [in the case with you it seems we are always on the opposite side of the fence – so its always good to hear your perspective]

    Rumors – well cant fight with you on the issue – I accept its a rumor – ‘islamic’ twist well thats a new one from you 😉 I rest my case LOL

  14. Salman Avatar
    Salman

    @ Obi Wan Kenobi,

    This is just a Blog and it should be taken as such, this is not news (not to say that what we read in newspapers is anymore credible) based upon facts.

    Why are you taking this issue so seriously? It is also very convenient to use Islam when the need fits. Otherwise, if anyone mentions Islam, they end up being labeled as a Mullah or Talibani. I know you meant well and I do agree with you in reference to spreading rumors.

    Just enjoy what people write as entertainment. Here is some more entertainment for you folks:

    http://www.dictatorshipwatch.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=4111

    By the way, is not Imran Khan in the USA these days?

  15. Freedom Avatar
    Freedom

    @Obi

    Obi is just pissed off these days. lol

    Why? his hero bastard mushy’s ass is on fire and temp is rising. Mushy was planning to take 200 crooks with him
    to china to enjoy games instead Zardari’s is making fine game out of mushy. Now mushy cant even sleep, let alone watch games lol.

    Dekha Pakistani Awami Mukka, bastard jerk musharraf?

    Hang mushy for high treason!

  16. Confused Avatar
    Confused

    I stumbled upon your site searching for news about Aafia. I know nothing about your ideology and political agenda. Her horrific situation is a mockery of civilization and humanity. And after reading some of the comments on your blog, I am concerned for her family–political figure head(I am calling them political out of respect for you the readers) exploiting the situation!
    I wish every one can treat her as human being first, and then Muslim and/or Pakistani. I noticed visitor on this site posting links, I would appreciate if someone can point me to where I can find more about her and her family in Pakistan. Thanks.

  17. Faisal Nalera Avatar
    Faisal Nalera

    Case of Afia shows the cruelity aspects of Americian nation against human rights.

  18. Muslim Avatar
    Muslim

    Being a muslim I am ashamed of myself because I haven’t done anything indivitually and collectively for missing persons in pakistan and for Dr. Aafia. Atleast I and we all can do is to show our anger to our politians and to USA.

  19. eng iftikhar ch Avatar
    eng iftikhar ch

    One may nt believe butt i believe everything is possible.why? i recall 2002 march when i was picked from office of Audi dealership in SaudiArabia ther i was working as service manager.I was representin Daily Khabrain.General Asad durrani so called ex service men society leader was ambassoder of Pakistan and was known as terror there.he picked Nawaz shareef allyes.
    It was a big tragedy i wrote in Khabrain.salution was this Saudi police arrested me.upon asking they told that it is Pakistani authorities they demanded ur arrest.
    Therefore i believe that Eidhi weedihi all r corrupt and they can do any thing.u remeber one american said Pakistani can sell there mothers for money.I m sorry there r black sheep available like Musharraf and belal available to sell children,sisters and mothers.

  20. Rafiq Gujjar Avatar
    Rafiq Gujjar

    I salute u Mr Iftikhar Engineer.I read ur column in Nawaiwaqt.Shame on Durrani

  21. Wasif Butt Avatar
    Wasif Butt

    Iftikhar ch sb
    U were not alone.it was Shahbaz butt also.His two young daughters were picked also as he was nt submitting passports to Saudies(son of bitch).Azmat Niazi also lost his buisness so as Khawja Amjad.
    I suggest u to file case against Gen Durrani and Nusharraf for that operation.

  22. gibran Avatar
    gibran

    I would also urge you to refrain from spreading such rumours. The least you must have done was to contact Bilal Musharraf for a clarification.

  23. ameen Avatar
    ameen

    well, some honorable ppl have been questioning why drat Musharafs in this situation?….. the silence on part of musharafs regarding this is also suggesting something, no doubts, big mush is busy planning how to cope with impeachment issue but the accused little mush can always clarify the situation if he has clean hands!

  24. Impeach Musharraf Avatar
    Impeach Musharraf

    This is pathetic.

    One, you are not a journalist. You are a dentist and a blogger. So please get that straight.

    A real journalist would check a claim with multiple sources and the individuals involved. You did not do that. You simply heard a juicy rumor and threw it out. Just to get hits on your website.

    Two, why would Bilal Musharraf be involved in this situation? He’s just an actuary! He lives in the US. You don’t think Musharraf would give the job to someone else?

    I used to value your site. But now I think it’s crap! Typical rumor mongering Pakistani. Until we develop a fact-based discourse, we’ll never have true accountability, good governance, and democracy.

  25. FalsehoodIsBoundToVanish Avatar
    FalsehoodIsBoundToVanish

    People,

    Questions we need to ask ourselves are,

    1. How a zionist agent like Musharraf becomes the chief of Army/State.

    2. How many more of his like are there in key positions in Pakistan.

    3. Most importantly what do they (Musharraf and like) believe in. Who are these people and what is their ideology/believe/agenda(this one is evident).

    4. Once identified, expose the covert believe/agenda and history of these elements to the masses.

    Now those who are still loyal to cause of Pakistan and have authority and resources(loyal/God fearing intelligence people) to bring about change, should…

    1. Rid important institutions from these elements.
    2. Establish a network(of absolute loyalists/men of character/God fearing) that would halt the influx of these elements into decisive ranks of Pakitan’s bureaucracy/Army etc.

    and for us(The layman…)

    Lets establish a single objective, a discipline… a very first step towards the right path… and that would be…
    us being mindful of the rights of our Creator, Allah Az-wa-Ajal The Magnificent and The most Merciful, lets revert and repent to Him. Lets be truthful to ourselves… For time is slipping out of our hands, and, while the skin loses its grip on the flesh, lets hold on to the destiny…

  26. Anne Patterson Avatar
    Anne Patterson

    To me what credibility to this story is the fact that Ann Patterson has come out denying it. Note too that she did not just say we did not pay Bilal but that we did not pay anyone which is against FBI’s policy.

  27. AMNAH SALEEM Avatar
    AMNAH SALEEM

    WE ARE ALL WITH DR.AAFAI……………….

  28. Ch. Sift Ullah Chadhar Avatar
    Ch. Sift Ullah Chadhar

    Dr. Afia Sidiqui case is a serious case that Govt. of Pakistan should take interest to solve this case. Because in the World only Muslims are facing problems in different ways. So, our freedom is only flame.

  29. confused! Avatar
    confused!

    Musharraf’s son cashing-in on Aafia vs. Aafia wandering about Gahzni and attempted to shoot professional fighters. What is more absurd? Hard to say for me!
    I am no fan of Musharraf but blaming his son like this is truly outrageous. I am sure that as Musharraf’s son he could have done so many other things to make money. In my opinion the mere fact that he is working in the US goes to show that he does not want to participate in the ongoing loot of Pakistan.
    Your blog running this even as a “rumor” looses your credibility. I think!

  30. Jawan Avatar
    Jawan

    MUSH THE BASTARD COULD EVEN SELL HIS OWN MOTHER TO PLEASE USA IN ORDER TO EXTEND HIS RULE. HIS SON MAY NOT BE DIFFERENT. HE HAS PROVED THAT USING HIS DICTATOR FATHER”S INFLUENCE HE HAS BEEN SPREADING LINKS AND MAKING MONEY.

  31. Saera Avatar
    Saera

    Whoever reads my comment,I appeal him/her to pray in Tahajjud for our sister in Islam Afia for her freedom ,as Allah is all knowing and all watching.Allah listens all the time but its the time of Tahajjud that He opens His treasures and grants the requests of His mankind.Please please pray in Tahajjud and give Sadkah "Charity" for our sister as charity shuns away the Shaitan and the evils and hardships.May Allah bring our sister back to her children and family.May Allah protect her and save her from the evil minds and hands of the Kuffar Ameen.

  32. khan Avatar
    khan

    keep killing these Napak army men go ahead Taliban May Allah give you easy victory.