The Narratives – Mohamed Miah

Mohamed Miah | The Narratives

A Story That Breaks the Illusion

Every empire hides its sins behind clean speeches, perfect press releases, and polished morality. It convinces the world that its wars are righteous and its power is necessary. But sometimes, one story breaks the illusion. One story slips through the cracks and exposes the machinery underneath. For the War on Terror, that story is Dr Aafia Siddiqui.

Aafia was never a criminal mastermind. She was an MIT-trained neuroscientist, a mother of three, a quiet academic who lived between research, religion, and raising children. Her existence never threatened the world. Yet somehow, her disappearance created a fault line in global politics. She became a glitch — the one case that refuses to align, refuses to disappear, refuses to be explained.

In 2003, she vanished from Karachi with her children. No warrants. No trial. No explanation. Five years later, she reappeared in Afghanistan in a condition that contradicted every part of the official narrative. Thin. Injured. Traumatized. Alone. A mother missing two children, one of whom was never found. No government has ever explained where she was, what happened to her kids, or why she appeared the way she did.

The story didn’t make sense then. It doesn’t make sense now. And that is exactly why it matters.

Others Were Taken, Tortured, Released — So Why Not Her?

Mistakes the System Admitted

To understand how Aafia became “the one who never came back,” we must look at the hundreds of others who went through the same machinery — the ones the world now admits were wrongfully taken.

There was Khaled El-Masri, a German citizen kidnapped because he shared a name with someone else. He was beaten, tortured, stripped of dignity, and dumped in Albania when the CIA realised the mistake. The European Court of Human Rights confirmed every detail.

There was Mohamedou Ould Slahi, held in Guantánamo Bay for fourteen years despite never being charged. His torture became infamous: humiliation, deprivation, psychological warfare. Eventually he walked free because there was no evidence against him at all.

There was Abu Zubaydah, tortured across multiple black sites. The infamous “enhanced interrogation” program was built around him, yet he was never charged with a crime.

There were Tunisians, Libyans, Somalis, Afghans, Iraqis, Pakistanis — hundreds taken on suspicion, tortured on rumours, and eventually freed when the truth spilled out. Their freedom became documentaries, books, legal cases, apologies.

But Aafia? She is the only one still buried under an 86-year sentence. The only woman believed to have gone through the black-site pipeline. The only case that never received the correction others eventually got.

Why? Because her story breaks more than rules. It breaks the entire architecture behind the War on Terror.

Why Almost All Rendition Victims Were Muslims

The Dragnet Was Aimed at One Identity

When we looked at the data, one fact became impossible to ignore: the overwhelming majority of rendition and black-site detainees were Muslim. This wasn’t random, and it wasn’t coincidence. It was design.

After 9/11, intelligence operations were concentrated almost entirely in Muslim-majority regions: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Iraq. These became “catch zones,” where arrests could happen quietly, without outrage, without global headlines.

White Europeans never entered this pipeline because the political cost would have been catastrophic. A disappeared German mother would have triggered international investigations, protests, and resignations. A disappeared Pakistani mother barely triggered a press statement.

This wasn’t about truth. It was about cost.

And Muslim governments — whether willingly or under pressure — became part of the machinery. Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, UAE, and others captured suspects, allowed flights, handed over detainees, or remained silent when their citizens vanished. Western governments relied on this cooperation. And Muslim governments allowed it.

Not because Muslim lives are cheap in truth.

But because their governments made them cheap.

This is the same logic that once cheapened Black lives under colonialism. The same logic that cheapened Indigenous lives under empire. The same logic that now cheapens Muslim lives under global politics.

Her Disappearance Exposes Five Years the World Cannot Explain

A Mother and Three Children Vanish — and Only Two Return

In 2003, Aafia vanished with her children. For five years, no one knew where they were. Then suddenly, she appeared in Afghanistan in 2008 — alone, disoriented, malnourished, terrified. The official story said she had been hiding voluntarily. Yet her condition contradicted every part of that claim.

Her eldest son, Ahmed, reappeared separately in a traumatised state. Her daughter, Maryam, resurfaced two years later, emotionally withdrawn. The youngest — Sulaiman — never returned. His fate remains unknown.

Unlike other detainees who were missing, tortured, then released, Aafia’s story has children woven into it, including a baby. That alone makes the case uniquely sensitive. No government wants to explain the fate of a disappeared infant.

Her missing years are a black hole — one the world avoids because the answers would damage everyone involved.

Pakistan’s Failure and the Muslim World’s Silence

This is the part of the story that hurts the most. A Muslim woman vanished from Muslim soil, yet her own country failed her. Governments shifted positions, denied knowledge, then hinted at involvement, then fell silent again. Political leaders avoided confrontation. Institutions collapsed under pressure or offered excuses.

And beyond Pakistan, the wider Muslim world shrugged and moved on. We filled the streets for global issues, but not for a mother whose children were snatched alongside her. We talk about unity, honour, and protecting our own, yet we failed her in every possible way.

Aafia’s case exposes how loudly Muslims talk about brotherhood — and how quietly they act when one of their own is swallowed by the system.

The Sentence Meant to Silence

Her trial focused on one incident — the alleged gun struggle in Afghanistan — not the five years of disappearance. The forensic contradictions were ignored. Emotional testimony replaced evidence. And the 86-year sentence ensured that the missing years would never be examined in court.

Every other wrongfully detained man was eventually sent home.

She was entombed.

Not because of guilt.

But because releasing her would force the world to confront the questions everyone avoids.

A Story That Refuses to Disappear

The Glitch That Shows the System Behind the Screen

Aafia is not just a prisoner. She is a mirror. She reflects the fear, hypocrisy, cowardice, and political calculations of an entire era. Her case exposes:

why Muslims were overwhelmingly targeted why Muslim governments cooperated why Western governments avoided white victims why black sites thrived on secrecy why mistakes were hidden and why she remains the one case the system cannot undo

Her existence forces the world to face its own lies.

Unlike the men who were wrongly taken and then released, she still sits inside a cell — the living contradiction of a story that cannot be closed.

The Questions That Shake the Foundations

And so we end with the questions the world still refuses to answer.

Why was every other mistaken detainee eventually freed — except her? Why did she disappear with her children but reappear alone? Where is the youngest child? What happened in those five missing years? Why did Pakistan abandon her? Why did the Muslim world stay silent? And what truth is so dangerous that Dr Aafia Siddiqui must never be allowed to speak freely again?

And then they ask us why… what’s wrong… why are Muslims angry? One word: injustice.