Pakistan has once again emerged as a terror-sponsoring country after reports of the man who took hostages of four people at a synagogue in the town of Colleyville, Dallas, linked to the Pakistani Scientist Aafia Siddiqui who was serving sentence in US prison, came to light, according to an analysis by American Enterprise Institute.
In Pakistan, Siddiqui became a cause celebre. Pakistan's president, prime minister, and foreign minister all brought up her case with their American counterparts, and the Pakistani senate called on the US to release her.
While the news of Aafia Siddiqui's arrest passed with little notice in the US, her conviction led to widespread anti-American demonstrations in Pakistan and to demands that Pakistani authorities suspend the delivery of supplies for the war effort in Afghanistan. Her incarceration occupied headlines in Pakistan for months, according to the AEI's analysis.
With Muhammad Siddiqui attack on the Beth Israel synagogue, the prominence of her case will increase. While groups like Al Qaeda or the Islamic State are filled with citizens of other countries whose governments denounce them, Aafia Siddiqui is different: Pakistani officials at all levels of government endorse her and treat her like a hero. Inevitably, many on the Pakistani street will now celebrate her brother or, at the very least, excuse his actions writes Michael Rubin, Senior Fellow AEI.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's embrace of Aafia is just the tip of the iceberg. The Pakistani government continues to let those responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks--terrorist attacks which killed Americans--to roam free. Pakistan's intelligence service knowingly provided Al Qaeda leader Usama Bin Laden with safe haven, according to AEI's analysis.
Earlier, the Biden administration discusses the Taliban taking over of Afghanistan as if it occurred in a vacuum, the reality is that the Taliban's rampage through Afghanistan last August was effectively a Pakistani invasion, writes Michael Rubin, Senior Fellow AEI.
Meanwhile, the suspect who took hostages at the synagogue in the town of Colleyville, Dallas, demanding the release of a Pakistan scientist convicted of trying to kill US military officers while in custody in Afghanistan, is dead.
The "The suspect is deceased," Colleyville Police Chief Michael Miller said during a press conference on late Saturday (local time), explaining that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) rescue team had entered the synagogue in Colleyville and that all the three remaining hostages were rescued unharmed, according to Sputnik News Agency.
Earlier, Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted that all hostages had been released from the synagogue and were alive and safe.
( With inputs from ANI )
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