Lahore police assures security to Khadija Siddiqi

LAHORE: The Lahore police on Wednesday assured Khadija Siddiqi of complete security, two days after her attacker, Shah Hussain, was released early from prison.

Khadija Siddiqi was attacked with a knife and stabbed 23 times by Hussain. Following the trial of the case, Hussain was sentenced to five years in prison in 2018.

The issue; however, came back to the limelight last week on July 17 after Hussain managed to secure an early release from the prison after serving only three-and-half-years in jail.

Talking to BOL News, Khadija Siddiqi said that she felt unsafe after Hussain’s release. “This is why I have applied for security again,” Khadija said after a meeting with Superintendent of Police (SP) Security and Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Sajid Kiyani.

She recalled that she had a police guard from 2017 till November 2019 but later her security was lowered.

Speaking about the release, Khadija said that it was not the decision of the court rather the permission was granted on the basis of the jail manual under the jail authorities.

“The court has nothing to do with it,” she added.

“Special favours were extended to him, which, generally are not provided to the poor convicts. The jail authorities extended him all possible privileges during the stay,” she maintained.

When asked who was responsible for Hussain’s early release, she accused the jail authorities for using their remission powers for an attempted murder convict.

She clarified that the conviction tag has not been removed from Hussain and he is still a convict and a sentenced criminal.

“He was released because of the remission powers used by [the] jail authorities so we cannot say that he is free from any charges,” she added.

“My struggle is for women and for the rule of law, which is still ongoing and I will never give up,” she maintained, adding that a lot of women are irked by the early release.

She advised women who go through similar circumstances to gather courage and speak up against the injustice.

“You will get justice one day so don’t give up and continue your struggle to,” she added.