Doctor who helped CIA track down Osama not a hero: Pakistan to US

Islamabad: Pakistan has told the US that Shakil Afridi, the doctor who allegedly worked for the CIA to help track down Osama bin Laden and is currently languishing in a jail in the country for anti-state activities, was no hero and that the court will decide his fate.

Following demands from the US to release Afridi, Pakistan Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani, giving a briefing after a meeting Tuesday between a US House Committee on Foreign Affairs and a delegation led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said the US was told that Afridi was no hero and was facing criminal cases, adding that the courts would decide his fate, the Dawn reported Wednesday.

Jilani said the US was told that the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was already banned in Pakistan and that any action could be taken against Hafiz Saeed if substantial evidence was made available.

He said a high-level delegation from Pakistan would visit the US Nov 12.

Dawn reported citing a BBC report that US Representative Edward Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had pressed for Afridi’s release.

Afridi was arrested for his alleged links with the CIA and also charged with having links with the banned religious outfit Lashkar-e-Islam.

Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison in May last year for his involvement in anti-state activities by an assistant political agent of the tribal region of Khyber Agency.

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Thoough a judicial official overturned the 33-year jail sentence in August this year, Afridi continues to be in detention on the charge of taking part in anti-state activities.

IANS