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                        <title>The Express Tribune</title>
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			<title>Lawyer quits Shakil Afridi case over threats</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/706958/lawyer-quits-shakil-afridi-case-over-threats</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/706958/lawyer-quits-shakil-afridi-case-over-threats#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 11 May 14 00:56:13 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[noorwali.shah]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Samiullah says he, his family were facing severe pressure and it was no longer possible for him to defend Dr Shakil.]]>
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				<![CDATA[A key member of the defence team of Dr Shakil Afridi – who was arrested for conducting a phony vaccination campaign to help the CIA track down Osama bin Laden – has quit the case after receiving threats.

Advocate Samiullah Afridi, who was part of Dr Shakil’s defence team from the beginning, had moved abroad in December, last year, after receiving threats from ‘unknown people’. On Saturday, he said he will not be part of the case proceedings henceforth.

Talking to The Express Tribune by phone, Samiullah said he and his family were facing severe pressure and it was no longer possible for him to defend Dr Shakil.

“Threats [against me and my family] have increased over the last few days, ever since Dr Shakil’s sentence was reduced by the court to 10 years in prison,” he said. “Unidentified people told me I could be targeted anytime if I did not leave the case.”

Asked if he took Dr Shakil’s family into confidence before taking the decision, Samiullah said his client’s family was not very happy with his decision. “But how can I proceed with this case if my own life and the lives of my family members are in danger?” he asked.

Samiullah left Pakistan on December 10, 2013 after militants threatened to blow up his car because of his role as a central lawyer in Dr Shakil’s defence team.

However, on March 15 this year, the day the Frontier Crimes Regulation commissioner reduced Dr Shakil’s jail term by 10 years, Samiullah told the media that the defence team still had reservations against the ruling and would challenge it before the Fata tribunal.


Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2014.]]>
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			<title>17 LHWs reinstated by health department</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/585156/17-lhws-reinstated-by-health-department</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/585156/17-lhws-reinstated-by-health-department#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 01 Aug 13 16:48:52 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[muhammad.sadaqat]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[The sacked health professionals had pleaded not guilty.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The health department has reinstated all 17 lady health workers (LHW) who were sacked on charges of aiding Dr Shakil Afridi in his CIA-sponsored task of capturing al Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden.


A notification issued by the office of DG Health on Thursday reinstated all 17 employees. Officials of the health department claimed their emoluments and salaries had been restored as well.

The sacked health professionals had pleaded not guilty and challenged their removal in front of the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) Abbottabad bench. The bench, comprising Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Seth Waqar, had earlier found the women innocent and had ordered their reinstatement on March 14 this year.

According to charges framed against the LHWs by health authorities, the women allegedly participated in a fake vaccination drive aimed at tracing the al Qaeda chief, who was found and killed by US Navy SEALS in his Bilal Town hideout on May 2, 2011. The charges stated the health workers were helping Afridi, a CIA operative, collect blood samples of Osama’s grandchildren in order to track him with DNA tests.

The health authorities removed the LHWs from service on February 12, 2012. The health workers, some of whom were severely grilled by intelligence agencies, in turn accused district health authorities for punishing them for a crime they never committed and demanded reinstatement.

DHO Abbottabad Dr Zafeer was not available to comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2013.]]>
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			<title>Why jail Shakil Afridi?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/578284/why-jail-shakil-afridi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/578284/why-jail-shakil-afridi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 17 Jul 13 18:08:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[ayesha.siddiqa]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=578284</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Afridi’s sin is certainly much less than senior state functionaries, especially those protecting, monitoring...]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Reading through the leaked draft of the Abbottabad Commission report, one wonders why Pakistan is keeping Dr Shakil Afridi in jail when he could also be given the benefit of doubt of a non-performing system. Allegedly, one of the many drafts prepared by one of the four members of the Commission, the draft is rich in testimonies of various important people possibly involved with the May 2 American raid on the Abbottabad house where Osama bin Laden lived. There are two key issues that the commission sought to investigate: a) how did Osama bin Laden live in Pakistan and b) how did the US violate Pakistan’s airspace and conduct its mission.

There are certainly no clear answers as to who was responsible for both the above mentioned acts but we now know that Osama was indeed living in Pakistan. The report will certainly answer the speculation and rumours that Bin Laden was already dead and that the US operation was undertaken just to malign Pakistan. There is a lot of heartburn visible in many of the testimonies regarding the US not taking Pakistan into confidence. But in hindsight, who would confide in the Pakistani authorities if the system is so dysfunctional that each one of the civil or military bureaucrat testifying before the commission complains about it? The director general of Military Intelligence warns the commission that things could go really bad if the system were to continue to remain this dysfunctional. To cut a long story short, the dysfunctionality is there mainly because at the end of the day, no one is doing their work since those who are more powerful, use their authority and create a pool of inefficiency that is visible to the general public’s naked eye.

In fact, the inefficiency also seems to have crept into the Commission, which despite all the access, could not hold anyone responsible for what happened on May 2 and before. We are now all supposed to clap to the fact that it could pinpoint the inefficiency of the decision-making system, particularly pertaining to national security. But then, it doesn’t take 160 testimonies and hundreds of hours at state expense to figure that out. The national security decision-making structure that was in place in around 1976 collapsed the minute General Ziaul Haq took over in 1977. The first institution to suffer was the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, which was supposed to represent the three services and do joint planning, but was made ineffective because the army chief was also the president with little interest in sharing power. The organisation was further stabbed to death during the Musharraf years when it was even debated whether to scrap it since the army found little or no use for it.

But referring to the commission’s report, perhaps, it might have been able to conclude something if it could have access to the army chief, the president and the prime minister. These three main characters of the May 2 drama never testified before the commission. At least, greater light might have been thrown on the kind of arrangements we have with the US that forced the armed forces in general to look the other way as the American SEALs did their operation in Abbottabad.

This brings me back to the initial question that why jail Shakil Afridi just because he confessed to being paid by the CIA through USAID. Reading the report, it does not appear that he was instrumental in finding Bin Laden. He was, however, one of the many people hired by the CIA to comb the area. Has anyone even assessed after May 2 as to how many government functionaries are directly or indirectly (through family members and friends) on the CIA/USAID payroll? Probably, Afridi was not betraying his country but making a few bucks in a place where he saw everyone on the take. It is certainly irresponsible to hold him responsible for the errors of omission or commission done deliberately or inadvertently. Afridi’s sin is certainly much less than that of the other more senior state functionaries, especially those tasked with protecting and monitoring Pakistan’s airspace in that they were not able to detect at all at least four US helicopters flying inside Pakistani territory for almost three hours. The only excuse that the air chief could offer was that he was so focused on the Indian threat that he didn’t think of the western border. This is despite the fact that there were at least a couple of violations of Pakistan’s airspace by US aircraft in 2008. Is it not just plain inefficiency that it took the PAF over an hour and thirty minutes to know that there had been intrusion inside Pakistan’s airspace?

Notwithstanding the not-entirely-accurate claim made by the air chief regarding defence policy being made by the Ministry of Defence, the fact is that the responsibility of not providing security at that critical time lay with him as it did with a number of senior officers who sat silently while the US carried out its operation. Although the focus of the debate after the leaked report is to put the burden on civilian leaders, it makes sense to ask the men in uniform about their inefficiencies. Is it just because civilian leaders are too lazy and do not read books, etc. that we had a situation where the PAF higher command did not take note of the presence of a superpower in the neighbourhood? Although the air chief claims they didn’t detect the incursion, he is strongly contradicted by Air Marshal (retired) Shahid Latif who talks about the PAF hearing signs of some activity on the AfPak border. Or is it that the PAF was told to shut up as had happened in Kargil when they heard some noises in the north?

Not to forget the mother of all questions: was Shakil Afridi the only one playing ball with the US?

It is said that the government wants to now set up a commission to investigate the leak. I think it is time they investigated why the commission did not affix responsibility on people for not doing their duty. It is important to observe the decision-making trail and name those who put the country at risk by accommodating Bin Laden and allowing Americans to intrude. Without those details, the report is not worth the paper it is written on.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2013.

Like Opinion &amp; Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.]]>
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			<title>Brother denied meeting with Dr Shakil Afridi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/573289/brother-denied-meeting-with-dr-shakil-afridi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/573289/brother-denied-meeting-with-dr-shakil-afridi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 06 Jul 13 07:41:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=573289</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Jamil Afridi told that only the doctor’s wife and children could meet him.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Jamil Afridi, the brother of alleged CIA informant Dr Shakil Afridi, filed another application to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government seeing permission to meet his brother at the central prison in Peshawar.

Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in jail on May 24, 2012 for allegations of aiding banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Islam (LI). The doctor is also has also been alleged of helping CIA in hunting down Osama bin Laden by launching a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad.

A tribal court of the Khyber Agency had sentenced Afridi, who is currently being held at the central prison in Peshawar, and soon after the verdict legal experts and human rights activists challenged the administration’s decision. A panel of lawyers, mostly from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), had obtained Afridi’s power of attorney to challenge the verdict in court.

After being allowed a meeting with his sisters in August 2012 at the Central Jail Peshawar, Afridi has since been banned from meeting his family over the controversial interview aired by Fox News. The interview was termed baseless by the government.

Sources said Jamil Afridi met Inspector General Prisons Khalid Abbas on Friday seeking a meeting after the provincial government allowed the doctor’s relatives to meet him, however, the meeting was denied by Abbas citing reasons that only the doctor’s wife and children could meet him.

“Jamil Afridi was told to file another application to the home department,” the official said, adding that another application has been filed to the home and tribal affairs department.]]>
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			<title>US Congressman declares Dr Shakil Afridi an ‘American hero’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/513781/us-congressman-declares-dr-shakil-afridi-an-american-hero</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/513781/us-congressman-declares-dr-shakil-afridi-an-american-hero#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 13 07:20:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[huma.imtiaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=513781</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Dana Rohrabacher introduces resolution in House of Representatives, says Dr Afridi should be immediately released.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives declaring Dr Shakil Afridi a hero.

According to a press statement, the resolution expressed that Dr Afridi is an ‘American hero’ and should be immediately released from Pakistani custody.

The statement said that Americans owe Dr Afridi a debt for helping find former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Congressman Rohrabacher said that Dr Afridi and his family have “paid a terrible price at the hands of our so-called allies – the Pakistani government. We cannot continue to turn our back on Dr Afridi. He risked his life to provide the intel our forces needed to locate and eliminate Osama bin Laden and he now languishes in a Pakistani prison serving a 33-year sentence.

“He has been tortured, his family has been attacked and he is still in a desperate situation. It behooves us as Americans to state in a unified voice to his Pakistani captors, Dr Afridi should be freed.”

The sponsors of the resolution include Representatives Bachmann, Gerlach, Higgins, Hunter, Lummis, Poe, Salmon, Loretta Sanchez and Stockman, the statement added.

Congressman Rohrabacher has previously introduced bills calling for Balochis to be given right of self-determination, and for Dr Afridi to be given the Congressional Gold Medal.

Dr Afridi had been working with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for years before the Bin Laden raid, providing intelligence on militant groups in Pakistan’s tribal region.

He helped the agency hunt down Bin Laden after which he was sentenced to 33 years in prison last year in May for his links to a banned militant group.]]>
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			<title>Clinton, butterflies and Bin Laden</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/488047/clinton-butterflies-and-bin-laden</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/488047/clinton-butterflies-and-bin-laden#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 02 Jan 13 17:38:05 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[shahid.mahmood]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=488047</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The butterfly effect of using Shakil Afridi to locate Osama bin Laden has resulted in attacks on health workers today.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was admitted to a hospital in December 2012 after doctors found a blood clot linked to a recent concussion. Only a couple of days ago, it was publicised that the blood clot was located in a vein between her brain and skull. Concussion symptoms may not be noticed for weeks after injury and are usually difficult to see. Family and friends may miss the telltale signs, as often people look fine — even though they are acting or feeling differently.

Clinton’s concussion, like the butterfly effect, has everything to do with the interconnectedness of life. A seemingly harmless blow to the head may cause memory lapses or blood clots. The butterfly effect describes how a small, deterministic action somewhere on our planet can have broad-ranging consequences somewhere else. The effect is all about the small things — how a tiny butterfly in a tropical rainforest can flap its wings, causing a huge storm to ravage continental Europe. It is said, nothing exists in isolation — the laws of cause and effect control everything.

Dr Shakeel Afridi was accused of carrying out a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad to acquire blood samples from Osama bin Laden (OBL) — helping the United States confirm whether the terrorist was living in a nearby house. Pakistani authorities caught Afridi as he was trying to flee the country and he was sentenced to 33 years in prison for abetting a foreign intelligence agency. The sentencing enraged many, who accuse Pakistan of punishing a man who helped track a wanted terrorist rather than investigating suspicious Pakistani networks that may have facilitated OBL to move and live in Abbottabad. The US Senate, as a result, slashed $33 million in foreign aid to Pakistan over Afridi’s conviction — $1 million for each of the 33 years of his sentence.

Afridi used World Health Organisation (WHO) cooler boxes for his clandestine operation even though no official immunisation drives were underway in Abbottabad. Humanitarian organisations protested, at the time of Afridi’s conviction, that intelligence operations under the guise of medical charities would endanger future projects — threatening immunisation efforts in Pakistan. Aid workers have unequivocally specified that they must operate independently from military forces in Pakistan or risk being perceived by locals — and militants — as being partisan and part of a counter-insurgency campaign.

The killing of OBL did not mark the end of extremism. Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the US, once said, “For the want of a nail the shoe was lost; For the want of a shoe the horse was lost; For the want of a horse the rider was lost; For the want of a rider the battle was lost; For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost; And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail”. A few days ago, seven Pakistani charity workers were shot dead by militants. It was only last month that gunmen killed nine healthcare workers who were helping in a national polio vaccination drive in northwest Pakistan. Religious groups defying these immunisation programmes pontificate that health workers are being used by foreign powers to spy on locals. The killings prompted the United Nations and the WHO to stop polio eradication campaigns in Pakistan. Authorities were hoping to vaccinate 250,000 children in the area.

For this “want of the horseshoe nail”, there is no hope for us in 2013.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3rd, 2013.]]>
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			<title>Found guilty: Prison guard sacked over Dr Afridi’s Fox News interview</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/479610/found-guilty-prison-guard-sacked-over-dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-fox-news-interview</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/479610/found-guilty-prison-guard-sacked-over-dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-fox-news-interview#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 13 Dec 12 19:36:37 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[umer.farooq]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=479610</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Tribal doctor had helped CIA track down al Qaeda chief in Abbottabad hideout.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[A prison guard has been sacked for facilitating a telephone interview of jailed Pakistani doctor Shakeel Afridi, who had conducted a phony vaccination drive to help the CIA track down al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in his Abbottabad mansion.

The guard confessed before an inquiry panel that he had allowed Dr Afridi to make calls from his cellphone, a senior official of Peshawar’s Central Prison told The Express Tribune. However, the guard said he thought Dr Afridi was making the calls to his family.

In the interview to American news channel Fox News on September 10, Dr Afridi had claimed that after the Abbottabad raid he had been kidnapped and tortured by Pakistani intelligence. He had also alleged that the ISI regarded the US as its worst enemy.

The inquiry panel is also questioning a police constable for his possible role in facilitating the interview, the prison official said. “Though the guard has confessed to assisting Dr Afridi, we are still investigating as to how the cellphone was carried into the cell,” he said of the sacked guard.

The official said that after the interview a search operation was launched in Dr Afridi’s cell. He categorically rejected media reports that a satellite phone was recovered from the cell.

“Every corner of the cell was checked – and nothing was found. Still we monitored the two guards and arrested them subsequently on suspicion,” the official added.

Meanwhile, Dr Afridi’s family has petitioned the commissioner of the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) to allow them to meet the jailed doctor in his prison cell, his cousin Qamar Nadeem Afridi confirmed to The Express Tribune. After the Fox News interview, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had barred Dr Afridi from meeting his relatives and lawyers.

On the other hand, Dr Afridi’s case was adjourned till January 17 due to a strike called by the Pakistan Bar Council against the judicial policy. It is the 7th time since June this year that the case has been adjourned.]]>
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			<title>In wake of Shakil Afridi's hunger strike, US reiterates calls for his release</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/473012/in-wake-of-shakil-afridis-hunger-strike-us-reiterates-calls-for-his-release</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/473012/in-wake-of-shakil-afridis-hunger-strike-us-reiterates-calls-for-his-release#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 29 Nov 12 19:09:38 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[huma.imtiaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category><category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=473012</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[State department spokesperson says Shakil Afridi should never have been arrested in the first place.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland says that the US believes that Dr Shakil Afridi should never have been locked up in the first place. 

Responding to questions on reports that Dr Afridi had gone on a hunger strike to protest against prison conditions as he serves a 33 year sentence at the Peshawar jail for aiding the militant organisation Lashkar-e-Islam, Nuland said that as the Secretary of State stated on previous occasions that the prosecution and conviction of Dr Afridi sends the wrong message, especially in light of the shared interest in taking down a terrorist.

The State Department spokesperson told reporters during the daily briefing that they have made their views well known to Pakistan and the public at large.

She added that the US is having a series of working group meetings with Pakistan, which will give the US a chance to raise their concerns over the matter. "We want to see Dr Shakil Afridi released and safe," said Nuland, "Dr Shakil Afridi should never have been locked up to begin with."

US has consistently called for the release of Dr Afridi, who is believed to have helped the CIA in pinpointing Osama bin Laden’s hideout in the garrison town of Abbottabad and faces a treason charge.

Recently the US Senate allowed a proposed bill to be placed on its calendar for hearing which subjects payment of millions of dollars in counterinsurgency funds for Pakistan to the release of Dr Afridi among other conditions.]]>
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			<title>Shakil Afridi starts hunger strike</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/472683/shakil-afridi-in-starts-hunger-strike</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/472683/shakil-afridi-in-starts-hunger-strike#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 29 Nov 12 07:02:23 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=472683</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Prison officials in Peshawar say they are keeping Afridi in solitary confinement, will not allow him to have visitors.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The doctor who helped the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) hunt down Osama bin Laden started a hunger strike in his jail cell this week to protest against his living conditions, prison officials said on Thursday.

Shakil Afridi was sentenced in May to 33 years in jail for his links to a banned militant group. The decision was widely seen as punishment for helping the CIA find the al Qaeda leader, and has led to strained ties between Washington and Islamabad.

Prison officials in Peshawar said they are keeping Afridi in solitary confinement and will not allow him to have visitors nor speak to anyone by telephone as punishment for a media interview he gave in September.

“After the interview in which Dr. Shakil Afridi levelled serious allegations against the country’s top spy agency, the prison authorities barred his family members and lawyers from meeting him,” said a prison official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

“In protest, Dr Shakil has begun a hunger strike for an indefinite period.”

An investigation following the September interview found that Afridi had bribed guards to use their cell phones to speak to journalists, family and friends, making a total of 58 calls, prison officials said. Six prison guards have been suspended.

US officials have hailed Afridi, aged in his 40s, as a hero for helping pinpoint Bin Laden’s location before the May 2011 raid that killed the al Qaeda leader.

Afridi’s family and lawyers maintain he was not guilty of any wrongdoing.

“He is not allowed to meet with us, his brother and other family members. He is a human being and would definitely be frustrated enough to begin a hunger strike,” said Afridi’s lawyer, Samiullah Afridi.

Afridi had been working with the CIA for years before the Bin Laden raid, providing intelligence on militant groups in Pakistan’s tribal region.]]>
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			<title>K-P government bars visitors from meeting Dr Shakil Afridi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/442684/officials-bar-visitors-from-meeting-dr-shakil-afridi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/442684/officials-bar-visitors-from-meeting-dr-shakil-afridi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 26 Sep 12 08:53:45 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[umer.farooq]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=442684</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Any person, includ­ing relati­ves, will not be allowe­d to visit him.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Officials have barred visitations to Dr Shakil Afridi at Peshawar Central jail, starting on Wednesday. 

Talking to The Express Tribune, Dr Afridi's brother Jamil Afridi said that he and the lawyer, Qamar Nadeem Afridi, were denied a meeting with the doctor when they went to visit him today.

Officials informed them that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government had barred anyone from meeting Dr Afridi.

Jamil said that his family was expecting the government to take such measures following his brother's interview with Fox News.

The ban bars anyone, including relatives from meeting the controversial doctor, who was accused of spying for US’ Central Intelligence Agency to capture slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.

Dr Afridi was accused of carrying out a fake anti-polio vaccination programme in the area in order to get DNA samples of bin Laden's family members living in the Abbottabad compound, where he was killed by Navy SEALs in a late night operation in May 2011.

He has stoutly negated all allegations against him and termed the case a fabrication of the Inter-Services Intelligence.

The doctor's family has met him four times since his arrest in May 2011. His two sisters had earlier met him for the first time in August this year.]]>
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			<title>A horrific fire; a fake (?) interview</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/436059/a-horrific-fire-a-fake-interview</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/436059/a-horrific-fire-a-fake-interview#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 13 Sep 12 16:42:53 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[kamran.shafi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=436059</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[I don’t believ­e a word of Afridi's interv­iew. Fox is lying until it provid­es proof that it did.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[First, what else but the horrendous fire in a Karachi garment factory in which nearly 300 poor souls have already died agonising deaths, and some are injured beyond imagination. Where were the tens of blood-sucking agencies that are the bane of the lives of factory owners: the civil defence wallahs; the provincial government electricity inspectors (yes, in addition to Wapda/KESC); the safety inspectors; the fire inspectors?

A clothing manufactory is a ‘fire-friendly’ environment what with the new synthetic wonder materials; the miles and miles of wiring; the fuse boxes. Were there enough fire extinguishers within easy reach of the workers in case of a fire? Were ‘No-Smoking’ rules enforced? There are so many questions; so much hurt; so much pain. And a deep, deep anger.

Someone asked on Twitter if anyone would bet five rupees that nothing will happen to anyone: not the owners; not the managers; not the government departments responsible for safety in the factory which took so many hard-working; poor; and innocent, lives and hurt so many more. I did not take the bet.

And now to the so-called interview that Dr Shakil Afridi, undergoing a 31-year sentence in Peshawar’s Central Jail, is purported to have given to Fox News’s Dominic Di-Natale, published on the channel’s website on September 10, 2012.

Highly mystifying to say the least, so I talked to, and tweeted and emailed some friends in the one day between the news exploding in our faces and my writing this piece to try to unravel the mystery.

People who know how our jails are administered, or shall we say mal-administered, say it is possible that the interview was indeed given, considering that anyone can do anything in these jails so long as you have friends in high places, and therefore, the influence. As evidence they quote the man convicted in the case of Daniel Pearl’s beheading, Ahmad Omar Saeed Shiekh’s telephone call to President Zardari from jail after the Mumbai attacks in 2008.

They do not take into account that whilst in the eyes of many members of Pakistan’s Ghairat Brigades Omar Shiekh is a hero for his Jihadism: kidnapping tourists in Kashmir; having a hand in Pearl’s killing: Dr Afridi is a filthy traitor who helped the Americans find and kill Bin Laden. (It has always escaped me, however, how and why, a man who supposedly helped find the killer of thousands of Pakistanis, including those in the services and paramilitary forces can be termed a traitor? Oh, well…).

So, it follows that whilst a man such as Sheikh would have influence to do as he pleases in jail; Afridi would not get the time of day from his jailers, and from their watchers (you-know-who). Also, he would be most closely monitored, not only so that he is not harmed whilst in the custody of a government whose agencies do not have a very fair name when it comes to violence and extra-judicial murder; but also because a traitor can have no contact with the outside world in case he lets on to other information he might have.

Others insist that even Fox News, not known for either probity or truthfulness or, God forbid, fairness, could not have mounted such a big lie; of manufacturing an interview where none existed. That the interview in some shape or form: a smuggled cell-phone; a written interview; must have taken place, and that Fox News must have some proof. People in the know also say Fox have been trying for months to get Afridi on the record and might well have heavily bribed their way to one.

I simply do not buy this line of reasoning. Pakistani jailers while notorious for bribery and corruption, and in return providing any and all services to their wards for the right price, would simply not have the gumption or the effrontery of doing so for a high-profile ‘enemy of the country’, designated as such by none other than the security establishment.

I would go several steps further: as far as to say that Afridi is in all probability watched round-the-clock by agents of none other than the ISI itself. Remember that he is accused of getting close to Bin Laden without anyone knowing, until Leon Panetta, for reasons best known to himself, let it be known that Afridi had helped ‘unearth’ the terrorist.

Remember too that when Bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad Cantonment in a unilateral raid by US SEALs, much egg found its way on to many a face and trickled down on to many a bemedalled breast. Afridi is, therefore, a much-hated villain in the eyes of the Deep State which would do it’s all to keep him under deep wraps.

Still others insist that the interview did happen but under the direct supervision of the ISI to send the Americans a message. Unless the ISI is growing a new skin, what message pray? That a high-risk, high security prisoner, who helped another power breach his own country’s sovereignty can speak to international news channels at his leisure?

I don’t believe a word of this interview. And know what clinched it for me?

The interviewer saying: “The doctor, who also used to act as a surgeon despite not being clinically qualified to perform procedures, said he (was) forced to work as a general practitioner, treating both staff and detainees in the detention centre. I was told to treat patients and prescribe medicine. Mostly ISI servicemen came to me for advice and prescriptions. I was told that the ISI doctor had said that anyone or everyone could go to Dr Shakil for medical purposes.”

I ask you! The ISI would send its agents to Shakil Afridi for treatment? The ISI that is famed to be a most excellent 5-star employer? And which is flush with funds to be able to afford the best medical care in the world for its own? The ISI would send its people (for treatment!) to a prisoner it had recently tortured? What utter tripe. Fox is lying until it provides proof that it did, indeed, interview Afridi.

Stop Press: Or is it a ploy by the powers to prepare the ground for Afridi’s dispatch to the ‘Promised Land’. See my piece.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>A controversial interview</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435571/a-controversial-interview</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435571/a-controversial-interview#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 12 Sep 12 20:21:26 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=435571</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[How did the right wing US TV organisation land an interview with someone incarcerated in Peshawar?]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Fox News’ purported interview of Dr Shakil Afridi certainly makes for explosive reading but also causes one to pause in doubt. Just how did this right wing US TV organisation land an interview with someone incarcerated in Peshawar whom the intelligence agencies would ensure had no access to journalists or communication devices? The interviewer, Dominic Di-Natale, claimed on Twitter that he personally spoke to Afridi for 40 minutes and that he was unable to explain how he landed the interview in order to protect those who helped him secure it.

The most likely explanation for this is that Di-Natale was able to smuggle a telephone to Afridi. This, too, raises another set of questions. Does that mean prison guards, who would certainly thoroughly check any visitors Afridi had, were part of the process? And though Di-Natale claims that he asked Afridi key questions to ascertain his identity, wouldn’t intelligence officials who interrogated him also know the answers to those questions? The ISI and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police have already denied that the interview ever took place, but both have an obvious incentive to lie about what they would consider a major security breach. The ISI also claims that the cell where Afridi is being held employs cell phone jammers which, again, would make sense.

Then there are the sensational claims attributed to Afridi in the interview. He says that the ISI sees the US as a bigger threat to Pakistan than even India and details how he was held at Aabpara in solitary confinement. Claims of torture have also been made and Afridi declares that he was proud to have worked for the CIA. Not only do the contents of the interview conveniently stick to the US narrative and feed into every suspicion the US holds about Pakistan, they all but ensure that Afridi will face even more torture for his heresy. Amid the confusion, conspiracy theories are bound to flourish. Maybe, many would suggest, the ground is being laid for a prisoner swap where Afridi would be exchanged for Aafia Siddiqui. At this time, the truth is too murky to be certain.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Shakil Afridi: still guilty</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435566/shakil-afridi-still-guilty</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435566/shakil-afridi-still-guilty#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 12 Sep 12 17:17:36 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[nadir.hassan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=435566</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Essentially, Afridi did it for the money. For that, some punishment is in order.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[For some reason, the imprisonment of Shakil Afridi, the doctor who worked with the CIA to carry out a fake vaccination campaign, continues to be a symbol of Pakistan’s perfidy in sheltering Osama bin Laden and proof that we are on the ‘other’ side when it comes to the war against militancy. A purported interview of Afridi from his prison cell, presumably by telephone, by Fox News has seemingly confirmed that the ISI, and by extension, the military see the US as the biggest threat facing the country. Added to that, the proposed expulsion of foreign workers of the NGO Save the Children for introducing Afridi to the CIA has also brought his case renewed attention.

A US Congressman has gone so far as to claim that the Afridi interview proves Pakistan is in league with the terrorists. This would be akin to assuming that the Americans’ continued incarceration of Jonathan Pollard, who stole nuclear secrets from the US on behalf of Israel, is the smoking gun which shows that the US is actually on the side of Israel’s enemies.

Since so many seem to think Afridi should not be in jail, it would be useful to remember just what he did. He knowingly gave vaccinations to people that would never be completed and thus would be effectively useless and, in the process of doing so, collected their DNA. He then handed over the DNA samples to a foreign intelligence service. This, on its own, would have been enough to convict him of conspiring against his country. Added to that is the fact that it is extremely unlikely that Afridi knew exactly why he was recruited to collect DNA samples on behalf of the CIA. The hunt for Osama bin Laden was carried out in secret with only a select few in the know about exact details. Those details would never have been freely discussed with a random Pakhtun doctor. Essentially, Afridi did it for the money. For that, some punishment is in order.

Afridi’s obvious guilt should not be taken as an endorsement of the way his trial was conducted. Charging him under the Frontier Crimes Regulation, which is far less transparent than the regular justice system, was a move borne out of a desire for a quick conviction and a need to stop the US from turning his trial into a public circus. He also should have been tried for the main charge against him — that of spying for the CIA — rather than colluding with militants, much the same way Aafia Siddiqui should have been tried for her terrorist ties rather than the shooting incident in Bagram.

The case of the Save the Children workers is a bit trickier. Anyone who is familiar with the CIA’s operations since it was established after the Second World War knows that it has a history of recruiting foreign NGO workers, placing its agents in these organisations and trying to get locals to do its bidding. There is no reason for Pakistan to be an exception.

Given the paranoia about CIA agents in the country, though, accusing anyone directly of links to the agency makes everyone who works at that particular organisation a target. Although the government is not liable to provide proof before deporting these people, it should do so anyway simply to make it clear that it is not making the NGO workers scapegoats. American influence in the country is a real problem and there are many powerful people whose fortune is dependent on it. To stave off the inevitable criticism, the government needs to cover its backside.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Save the Children regrets Pakistan expulsion</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435620/save-the-children-regrets-pakistan-expulsion</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435620/save-the-children-regrets-pakistan-expulsion#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 12 Sep 12 17:00:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=435620</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[NGO directs all its expatriate staff to leave the country by September 13.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The global children's aid agency, Save the Children said on Wednesday that it regretted Pakistan's government ordering its staff to leave the country and denied it was ever involved in the CIA's hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Pakistan last week had ordered all of the Save the Children's foreign staff to leave the country within four weeks in the wake of accusations linking it to a fake vaccination programme launched to track down the al Qaeda chief.

However, local media quoted interior minister Rehman Malik as saying on Saturday that the organisation's expatriate staff members in Pakistan would not now be expelled.

But Save the Children said in a statement Wednesday that it had not received official confirmation of the seeming U-turn and would still send its four expatriate workers home.

"Save the Children has not received written documentation (from the interior ministry) to support these statements," the charity said.

It added: "Consequently, we are left with no option but to ask the four remaining expatriate staff members in Islamabad to leave the country by September 13.

"While we regret that these talented and committed humanitarian workers are leaving the country, our remaining 2,000 Pakistani staff members, including our Senior Management Team in-country, will ensure operations in Pakistan."

Save the Children employs a total of six expatriate staff members in Pakistan -- a Bangladeshi, an Irish citizen, three British nationals and one American citizen.

Two of the foreign staff members were not in the country when the government issued the expulsion order.

"We hope that our six expatriate staff members will be allowed to return to Pakistan soon," the charity added.

Save the Children said no explanation had been given for the cancellation of the staff visas but added it would seek to cooperate with authorities to clear up any doubts.

A Pakistan intelligence report has linked the aid agency to Pakistani doctor Shakeel Afridi, who the CIA allegedly used to carry out the fake vaccination programme.

"Save the Children has always worked within its mandate and has never been involved with either the CIA or any other intelligence agency, doctor Shakeel Afridi or a fake vaccination campaign" said the Save the Children statement.

Afridi allegedly worked for the CIA collecting DNA in a bid to verify bin Laden's presence in the town where he was killed by US Navy Seals in a raid on his compound in May 2011.

An official report prepared jointly by Pakistan civil and military intelligence blamed a former Save the Children director for introducing Afridi to the Americans.

In May Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in jail for treason after being convicted over alleged ties to militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, not for working for the CIA, for which the court said it did not have jurisdiction.]]>
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			<title>Fox controversy: ISI, officials, lawyers deny Shakil Afridi was interviewed</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435269/fox-controversy-isi-officials-lawyers-deny-shakil-afridi-was-interviewed</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435269/fox-controversy-isi-officials-lawyers-deny-shakil-afridi-was-interviewed#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 12 Sep 12 05:37:08 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[sumera.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=435269</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Stress access to imprisoned doctor is impossible without knowledge of high authorities.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[A day after US television channel Fox News startlingly aired what it claimed was an interview with Dr Shakil Afridi – the man who helped the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) hunt down Osama Bin Laden, – the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government, prison officials and Afridi’s attorneys all rubbished the possibility of such an interview.


Fox News claimed that its correspondent had conducted the interview in Peshawar Central Jail, and quoted Dr Afridi as saying that he suffered “brutal interrogation and torture” by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) when arrested. According to Fox, Afridi accused the ISI of funding militants, regarding the US as its “worst enemy”, while it accused Pakistan of cooperating with the US only to extract money, amongst numerous other allegations.

Fox News only aired the transcript of the purported exclusive, but did not indicate whether it was a video or audio interview. It also does not say how its reporter managed to enter the jail or meet Dr Afridi.

On Tuesday, the interview was categorically denied by officials at Peshawar Central Jail and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa home and tribal affairs department and ruled out any possibility of interviewing Dr Afridi inside the jail. “Dr Afridi is beyond the access of media and the news published, whether audio or video, is ambiguous and false as no one can meet [him] without approval of the provincial government and jail authorities,” said a statement issued by the Peshawar Central Jail.

The statement read that the K-P government regretted the story published by Fox News since only family members had been allowed to meet Afridi once a month at an office of the deputy superintendent jail. The home department’s Section Officer (Media) Qamar Ali also told The Express Tribune that Afridi had been under strict security, adding that only his family members, after approval of the provincial government, were allowed to meet him once a month.

“The news is completely vague and untrue,” said Ali.

Afridi’s 18-member defence counsel has also denied the interview, terming it baseless and fallacious.

Samiullah Afridi, counsel for Afridi, told The Express Tribune that “after establishing contact with Dr Afridi … we his lawyers, on behalf of Dr Afridi and his family, completely deny the report released by Fox News, terming it baseless and merely a publicity stunt. Dr Afridi is standing firm on his stance that he never aided the CIA in any covert operation in Pakistan.”

He added that it was impossible for anyone other than his lawyer and relatives to meet Dr Afridi for an interview inside the prison, saying Afridi’s security is directly monitored by the ISI itself. “Others cannot even think about contacting Dr Afridi,” said Samiullah, adding that neither could could anyone call him as mobile networks of all the cellular companies are jammed inside prisons.

Samiullah believed that the interview was a ploy to pressurise Pakistan.

“Just look at the timing: A US senator stands up in favor of Afridi and demands the US senate to stop aiding Pakistan, and on the same day an American news channel airs the interview,” Samiullah said adding that it could be a plot to kill Afridi by fuelling hardened prisoners.

He went on to add that there was now a heightened security threat to Afridi’s life. “There are hardcore militants inside the prison and once they come to know that Afridi has been interviewed by an American news channel, they would never leave him alive.”.

ISI denial

Meanwhile, ISI officials requesting anonymity told The Express Tribune that the interview by Fox News was concocted and baseless, adding that the main purpose of this report was to malign the ISI and damage Pak-US relations. The officials confirmed that no one was allowed to see Dr Afridi without prior approval from higher intelligence authorities and only Afridi’s lawyers see him when there is a case hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>CIA links: Dr Afridi terms charges against him fabricated</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435289/cia-links-dr-afridi-terms-charges-against-him-fabricated</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435289/cia-links-dr-afridi-terms-charges-against-him-fabricated#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 12 Sep 12 04:29:23 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[news.desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=435289</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Alleges that he was coerced into making false statements before judge.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[In the over 30-page reply submitted to the Peshawar High Court by Shakil Afridi, the man accused of espionage has stoutly negated all allegations against him and termed the case a fabrication of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).


“I was severely tortured and forced to give false statements before the magistrate, otherwise they (ISI) threatened to kill me in a police encounter.

“I was appointed by the additional chief secretary FATA in 2010 as a surgeon in Khyber Agency, but I did not meet the political agent of the area. At the time, Bara was under curfew and all the hospitals were closed,” maintained Afridi.

He added that the Dogra Hospital, which he was made in-charge of, was under the army’s control and hence his involvement with the Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) was impossible.

Shakil Afridi also said his arrest by authorities was unconstitutional and he was detained without a warrant. “If I did have any links with LI at the time, why was I arrested in Hayatabad, Peshawar and not in Khyber Agency?”

“The health department and the Fata Secretariat were kept in the dark about my detention. Health department’s officials fired me because of my absence from duty.”

He alleged that Assistant Political Agent of Khyber Agency Nasir Khan was coerced by the ISI into arresting him without any investigation. “He told me his job depended on it.”

Afridi said Khan was a relative of militant commander of Bajaur Maulvi Faqeer Muhammad and was dismissed by Political Agent Shafeeullah Wazir for having a “soft corner” for militants.

Afridi said he never visited Bara after March 2008 because LI chief Mangal Bagh had banned him from entering the area. “The technical staff was moved to Jamrud in September 2009.”

About the death sentence handed to him by a Jirga, Afridi said he met no representative of the tribal council. “None of the members belonged to my tribe and the APA forced some persons to give false statements. I have no house in Jamrud and have been a resident of Hayatabad for the past 12 years.”

Of his detention and spending nearly a year in custody of intelligence agencies, Afridi says no one else has ever been convicted in the same way he has been.

“It is a joke and slap on the face of the judicial system in Pakistan.” Afridi maintained he saw Mangal Bagh for the first time when he was kidnapped by the militant outfit in 2008.

He also accused the intelligence agencies for kidnapping him then, saying “Mangal was trained by them (ISI) and is their person. This fact was told to me by the political agent and the security secretary of Fata.”

About the anti-polio vaccination programmes in the area, Afridi said the one in Nawa Shehar was fabricated.

“The lady health workers used to hand empty vaccine vials to the assistant coordinator of the campaign along with used kits which were then disposed of. The purpose of this was to show vaccines had been used during counter checking.”

He said three campaigns were carried out altogether. The first one was held in March and the third one in the last week of April. He also accused the ISI of siphoning off funds allocated under the immunization drive. “If the campaign was illegal, why didn’t I escape to Afghanistan? Neither did I know them (Lashkar-e-Islam) nor did they know me.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>'Dr Afridi’s imprisonment shows Pakistan is partner of terrorists'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435044/dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-imprisonment-shows-pakistan-is-partner-of-terrorists</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/435044/dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-imprisonment-shows-pakistan-is-partner-of-terrorists#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 11 Sep 12 17:36:16 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[huma.imtiaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=435044</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Rohrabacher says imprisonment signals that Pakistan is partner of terrorists murdering Americans and not a US ally.]]>
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				<![CDATA[US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has said that Dr Shakil Afridi’s imprisonment signals that Pakistan is a partner of terrorists that murder Americans, and not an ally of the United States.

In a statement released on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US, Congressman Rohrabacher said, “As we commemorate the monstrous crime committed against America on 9-11 and honour the brave, innocent souls lost,  let us also remember an heroic figure in bringing to justice those who murdered our fellow citizens on this day eleven years ago.

“As I speak, Dr Shakil Afridi, the man who risked his life to provide the intel our forces needed to locate and eliminate Osama bin Laden, languishes in a Pakistani jail. There has been no resolution through Congress nor public efforts by the US government to support Dr Afridi in his hour of need. He has been tortured, his family has been attacked and he is still in a desperate situation. It behooves us as Americans to state in a unified, loud voice, to his Pakistani captors, Dr Afridi should be freed."

In the past, Congressman Rohrabacher has introduced legislation asking for Dr Afridi to be awarded with US citizenship and a Congressional Gold Medal. He has also introduced a resolution in Congress asking for Balochistan to be given the right of self-determination.

Congressman Rohrabacher is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.]]>
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			<title>Dr Shakil Afridi claims ISI regards US as 'worst enemy'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/434542/dr-afridi-claims-isi-regards-us-as-worst-enemy</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/434542/dr-afridi-claims-isi-regards-us-as-worst-enemy#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 10 Sep 12 21:21:30 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[web.desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=434542</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Speaking to Fox News from Peshawar Jail, Afridi alleges ISI duplicity, torture, but says he was proud to work for CIA.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Controversial Pakistani doctor and alleged CIA informant, Dr Shakil Afridi claimed in an interview to Fox News that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency regarded America as its “worst enemy” and that the incumbent government was cooperating with the US only to extract billions in aid.

“They [ISI officers] said ‘The Americans are our worst enemies, worse than the Indians,’” Afridi was quoted.

Speaking to the conservative American cable news channel from his cell in Peshawar Central Jail, Dr Afridi claimed that within the jail, the ISI maintained a regime of perpetual torture and brutal interrogation.

Dr Afridi also claimed the ISI was helping fund the Haqqani network, the North Waziristan-based militant group that was last week designated a Foreign Terrorist Organisation by the US.

Afridi claimed that before he was moved to Peshawar in May, 2012, he met Abdul Kayyum, the nephew of a Wazir tribe chief, who had been apprehended by the ISI for unclear reasons.

Kayyum allegedly told the doctor that three years earlier, his uncle, Khan Marjakee, had allegedly been instructed by the ISI to raise funds from the tribal community for the Haqqanis, which Marjakee then did.

“Without doubt, the Haqqanis are 100 per cent supported by the ISI,” Afridi was quoted by Fox News.

He claimed that the spy agency also manipulated inmates to stop them from talking to visiting US officials, especially CIA officers while militants who were arrested, were routinely released, free to return to Afghanistan provided they avoided the Americans.

“It is now indisputable that militancy in Pakistan is supported by the ISI […] Pakistan’s fight against militancy is bogus. It’s just to extract money from America,” Dr Afridi said, referring to the $23 billion Pakistan has received, mostly, in military aid since 9/11.

Helping CIA out of love for USA

Dr Afridi, who had allegedly helped the CIA to inadvertently find Osama bin Laden, told Fox News that an ISI report which allegedly carried a confession about his role in the programme, was false and claimed he never admitted to such charges, even under the threat of torture.

“I was told stories about what to say as statements and forced to write statements,” he claimed. “When I refused, the major said, ‘When we give you pain, then you will write.’”

Afridi, who was described as ‘reluctant’ by the report to gave details about how he become involved with the CIA or the vaccination drive, claimed he was never aware the CIA was closing in on the al Qaeda leader, but admitted he knew the work he was doing was for Americans.

“I didn’t know about a specific target apart from the work I was given to do,” he said. “The house was famous for its name, Waziristan House. I was aware that some terrorists were residing in that compound, but I didn’t know whom. I was shocked. I didn’t believe I was associated in his killing.”

Fox News further quoted Afridi as saying that “I have a lot of respect and love for your people,” before adding that he was “proud to work with” the CIA.

Dr Afridi claimed that after his work had been completed, his CIA handlers had advised him to flee to Afghanistan, where he and his family would be taken care of but he said he refused, pointing towards an earlier kidnapping in the tribal region had scared him too much travel through that region again, deciding instead to stay. He further claimed that since he didn’t feel that he was involved in the raid, he deemed it unnecessary to escape.

Arabs given ‘first class treatments’

The doctor spoke about alleged torture of white Western male converts to Islam, who were apprehended while traveling to Afghanistan to fight against Nato troops or be trained in militant camps in the region’s tribal belt. While there were militants of different nationalities, Apbara detention facility, Arab detainees were given “first-class treatment and first-class food,” while some radicalised Westerners were singled out for abuse.

“The militants were told by the ISI, ‘According to the Americans, we’re supposed to arrest you. We don’t want anything to do with you, but will support you by letting you go. Go back to Afghanistan and steer clear of the Americans.’ And then they would be released.”

In his alleged account of an ISI prison, one in the basement of an ISI office in Islamabad, Dr Afridi claimed there were a number of ‘white’ Westerners, with their nationalities ranging from American, British, Dutch, and German, who all had come to Pakistan to train and participate in a jihad against NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Regime of torture

Dr Afridi, who has been detained for over 12 months before he was sentenced by a tribal court for facilitating a banned orgranisation, claimed the ISI maintained a regime of torture in its detention centres.

He claimed that he too had been tortured with cigarette butts and electric shocks.

Talking about his detention by the ISI on May 23 in Hayatabad, Dr Afridi claimed, “my clothes were removed and I was forced by a major to wear old dirty torn rags of an army conductor. It was difficult to eat food. I had to bend down on my knees to eat with only my mouth, like a dog. I sat on the floor.”

The alleged maltreatment, being bound and blindfolded for eight months, he claims eventually affected his eyesight and limbs.

After torture, ISI also looted Afridi

Dr Afridi claims the ISI has “looted” his bank account of millions of rupees.

“My bank account was looted [by the ISI while being held], making me bankrupt. I need financial, legal and diplomatic help,” Afridi claimed. “My situation is very grim. I earned millions of rupees (tens of thousands of dollars) a year and supported my family and that of my brother. All of that is lost.”

Since Afridi’s arrest, the family collectively has allegedly suffered $160,000 in lost income, legal fees and living costs, an entire life’s fortune by Pakistani standards, he estimated.

The report ended by saying Dr Afridi is held in a cell guarded by two commandos. He has available in his cell a washroom, a bed and a gas burner for cooking food. His family visits often, bringing him food and other supplies, though they have to bribe prison officials to get the items through.]]>
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			<title>Expulsion of foreign NGO staff put on hold</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/434141/expulsion-of-foreign-ngo-staff-put-on-hold</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/434141/expulsion-of-foreign-ngo-staff-put-on-hold#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 10 Sep 12 04:41:45 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=434141</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Save the Children welcomes announcement by the interior minister.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Days after it ordered the expulsion of foreign staff of a British non-governmental organisation, the interior ministry confirmed on Sunday that the order has been “temporarily suspended.”

“Yes, we have temporarily suspended the order,” said a spokesperson for the interior ministry while talking to The Express Tribune.

The order follows an announcement to the effect by Interior Minister Rehman Malik a day ago, the spokesperson added.

Last week, the ministry had ordered all expatriate staff of Save the Children to leave Pakistan, purportedly for the organisation’s link to Dr Shakil Afridi.

NGO welcomes move

Save the Children welcomed the announcement from Rehman Malik to indefinitely lift the order revoking the visas of its six expatriate staff in the country.

In a statement sent to the media, Save the Children spokesperson Ghulam Qadri said, “This provides an opportunity to continue our discussions with the government to clarify any misunderstandings about our work in Pakistan.

“We categorically deny media reports linking us to the CIA or Dr Afridi.  These allegations are untrue and there is no evidence to support them,” the spokesperson said.

“Save the Children has never conducted a vaccination campaign in Abbottabad or in any other part of the country,” he said. The spokesperson added that the organisation has been “cooperating fully with the Abbottabad Commission and the government agencies throughout their investigation.”

“We have provided evidence to the Commission that nullifies the claims made by Dr Afridi regarding his association with Save the Children,” the spokesperson added.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Expelling NGO workers</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/433091/expelling-ngo-workers</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/433091/expelling-ngo-workers#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 07 Sep 12 18:19:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=433091</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Now, every foreigner working in Pakistan will be viewed suspiciously and will find it even harder to work here.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Some recent actions of the government and military make it seem as if the biggest problem facing Pakistan is the sheer number of CIA spies overrunning the country. The commission tasked with investigating the raid that killed Osama bin Laden has shown far greater interest in investigating how many visas then ambassador to the US Husain Haqqani gave to Americans than figuring out how the world’s most notorious terrorist found refuge on our soil. So far, the only person to face punishment for Bin Laden’s presence in the country is Shakil Afridi, a doctor who assisted the US in finding the al Qaeda leader. Keeping all this in mind, it should come as no surprise that the new target is the respected NGO Save the Children, six of whose foreign workers have been told to leave Pakistan after being accused of introducing Afridi to the CIA.

Granted, it should come as no surprise to those who are familiar with the CIA’s history that the intelligence agency would seek to recruit both local and foreign NGO workers. But there is a difference between noticing this possibility in general terms and making very specific accusations against individuals. By singling out the workers of Save the Children, the government has made all of its 2,000 members prime targets for militants. That this has been done without providing any proof is even worse. Now, every foreigner working in Pakistan will be viewed suspiciously and will find it even harder to work here.

The state is operating on a double standard. Our problem does not seem to be foreigners whose loyalty lies to an outside entity so much as it is a specific type of foreigner. Those accused of serving the interests of US intelligence are forced out of the country. Those who we know serve at the pleasure of the transnational al Qaeda get to operate with impunity. From these two groups, only one is actively involved in murdering Pakistanis. Yet, it seems that we our saving our wrath for the other of the two groups.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Links with Shakil Afridi: Pakistan orders expulsion of UK NGO’s foreign staff</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/432842/links-with-shakil-afridi-pakistan-orders-expulsion-of-uk-ngo%e2%80%99s-foreign-staff</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/432842/links-with-shakil-afridi-pakistan-orders-expulsion-of-uk-ngo%e2%80%99s-foreign-staff#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 07 Sep 12 05:03:44 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[agencies]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=432842</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Save the Children says six expatriate staff have been asked to leave.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[In the wake of accusations linking the UK-based non-governmental organisation Save the Children to a fake vaccination programme used in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, Pakistan has ordered all foreign staff of the agency to leave the country within four weeks.


Save the Children said it had received no explanation for the order, but a Pakistan intelligence report has linked the agency to Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi, who was involved in a bogus programme as the US hunted down the al Qaeda chief.

The aid agency’s six expatriate staff members have been asked to leave within four weeks.

“Earlier this week we got a call from special branch instructing us to send back all expatriate staff,” Save the Children spokesman Ghulam Qadir told AFP.

“There were no reasons given. We are working with the government to comply with the instructions,” Qadir said,

“We will continue to operate in Pakistan and Save the Children is currently serving more than seven million children with 2,000 dedicated national staff,” he added.

Save the Children denied allegations that it introduced Afridi to the CIA.

“On Shakeel Afridi, our stand is very clear that there is absolutely no truth in it. There is no concrete proof to these allegations,” Qadir said.

No government official was willing to comment.

Links with Afridi

An official report prepared jointly by Pakistan civil and military intelligence blamed a former Save the children director for introducing Afridi to the Americans.

The report, obtained by AFP, said Afridi went to Peshawar in November 2008 to participate in a workshop organised by Save The Children, where he met the charity’s country director, who later invited him to come to Islamabad.

Afridi met him at a book stall in Islamabad and was introduced to a western woman, the report said. The pair met regularly afterwards in various locations in the capital.

In May, Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in jail for treason after being convicted over alleged ties to militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, not for working for the CIA, for which the court said it did not have jurisdiction.

The United States was enraged by Afridi’s sentencing and the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to cut aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33 million. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan expels Save the Children’s foreign staff</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/432417/pakistan-expels-save-the-children%e2%80%99s-foreign-staff</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/432417/pakistan-expels-save-the-children%e2%80%99s-foreign-staff#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 06 Sep 12 10:00:50 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=432417</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[NGO came under govt suspicion because they came into contact with Shakil Afridi, who helped CIA hunt down bin Laden.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan is expelling foreign staff of the Save the Children aid group, an agency official said on Thursday, a decision apparently linked to government suspicion the charity helped US spies hunting Osama bin Laden.

The Interior Ministry had told the aid group that its six foreign employees had to be out of Pakistan within two weeks, said Ghulam Qadri, the group’s director for programme planning and communications.

The ministry gave no reason for the decision, he said. Interior Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.

Save the Children and other aid groups have come under government suspicion because of media reports they had come into contact with a Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, who helped the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) hunt down bin Laden.

“The allegations that have appeared in the media that Afridi worked with Save The Children and that Afridi was introduced to CIA by our staff, there is no truth to these allegations and no concrete evidence to support them,” said Qadri.

Bin Laden was killed in May last year when US special forces raided his hideout in the northern Pakistani town of Abbottabad. Pakistan, while a US security ally, objected to the secret US raid as a violation of its sovereignty.

Afridi was arrested soon after bin Laden was killed.

Afridi ran a vaccination campaign in Abbottabad and used cheek swabs to try to gather DNA from bin Laden’s children, who were staying with him in his hideout, one former Pakistani security official familiar with the case said this year.

It was unclear whether the CIA used the swabs to determine if the children were those of the al Qaeda chief.     After his arrest, Afridi was vilified by many Pakistanis for what they saw as his treason for helping the United States.

He was sentenced to 33 years in jail this year.

Save the Children has been working in Pakistan for more than 30 years, employing more than 2,000 Pakistani staff.]]>
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			<title>ISI chief rules out Dr Shakil Afridi, Dr Afia Siddiqui swap deal</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/429606/isi-chief-rules-out-dr-shakil-afridi-dr-afia-siddiqui-swap-deal</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/429606/isi-chief-rules-out-dr-shakil-afridi-dr-afia-siddiqui-swap-deal#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 31 Aug 12 21:45:29 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[asad.kharal]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=429606</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Islam tells US that the chapter of Dr Shakeel Afridi should be considered as closed.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam has denied reports that Dr Shakil Afridi could be handed to the US in swap deal, Dawn.com reported.

According to the report, the ISI supremo, who had held talks with his CIA counterpart earlier in August, told reporters at a press briefing late on Friday that the US should consider the chapter of Dr Shakil Afridi, who helped the US locate al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, as closed.

“He (Dr Afridi) will never be bartered for Dr Afia Siddiqui, no such proposal is under consideration,” the spy chief said, dispelling rumours.

However, an ISI official talking to the Express Tribune said that the ISI chief's statement had been misquoted, and taken out of context by a section of the media.

Afridi had been arrested by the ISI from near Peshawar, two weeks after Osama’s death. The official said that Afridi had accepted helping the CIA by running a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad a month before the raid on OBL’s compound.

Dr Afridi was subsequently sentenced to 33 years in prison by a tribal court for his alleged involvement with militant groups. He has appealed the verdict in a high court.]]>
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			<title>Shakil Afridi case adjourned again</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/428928/shakil-afridi-case-adjourned-again</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/428928/shakil-afridi-case-adjourned-again#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 31 Aug 12 05:33:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[umer.farooq]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=428928</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Legal experts criticise tribal courts for not meeting deadline for case disposal.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Legal experts, while criticising the tribal courts, said despite the timeframe given by the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), to decide cases, the tribal courts have failed to do so.


Lawyers expressed their frustration with the court of Commissioner FCR Tariq Jamil, when it adjourned the hearing of the alleged CIA informant Dr Shakil Afridi for the third time.

On June 1, Shakil Afridi filed a review petition against the orders of the Assistant Political Administration (APA) Jamrud  Nasir.

On May 23, the APA’s court sentenced Shakil to 33years in prison for allegedly assisting the banned Lashkar-e-Islam.

The first hearing of the appeal took place on June 21, which was adjourned on July 19 and again on August 30. Due to the absence of the Commissioner FCR Jamil on Thursday, the case was adjourned yet again, until September 27.

According to Shakil’s counsel, Samiullah Afridi, the FCR’s commissioner who also is the commissioner Peshawar, had left for Nowshera to visit the flood affected areas.

Samiullah Afridi told The Express Tribune that Section 60 of the amended FCR clearly states “any appeal filed against orders of the political or assistant political agent shall lie before the commissioner FCR where the commissioner FCR shall decide the case within 60 days.”

He added that the delay was a clear violation of the law.

When contacted, President of the Fata Lawyers’ Forum, Ijaz Mohmand, said the FCR, even after being amended by the President Asif Ali Zardari in August 2011, was still a black law and was unacceptable for the tribesmen.

“This is not only Shakil, but I can tell you about dozens other cases. People are being kept for several months under lockup and their cases are yet to be decided”, Mohmand said.

He said that meetings were held with the Chairman Senate Farooq H Naek and Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar, but to no avail.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Refuting evidence: Attorney denies Dr Afridi’s confession in JIT report</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/418592/refuting-evidence-attorney-denies-dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-confession-in-jit-report</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/418592/refuting-evidence-attorney-denies-dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-confession-in-jit-report#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 07 Aug 12 05:18:27 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[sumera.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=418592</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Dr Afridi’s family has shifted to an unknown place in Pakistan after receiving death threats in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[In a new twist to the case of Dr Shakeel Afridi, a tribal physician accused of helping the American CIA track down al Qaeda kingpin Osama bin Laden in his Abbottabad compound has denied a confession attributed to him in an investigation report.


Qamar Nadeem Afridi, the attorney for Dr Afridi, denied the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) report, including a purported confessional statement of Dr Afridi as well as his admittance of carrying out a ‘phoney’ vaccination campaign on his own.

“At a recent meeting, I handed over a copy of the JIT report to Dr Afridi who told me that everything attributed to him in the document was baseless,” added the counsel.

According to him, Dr Afridi was nominated for the vaccination drive by Coordinator for National Programme on Family Planning and Primary Healthcare, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Ehsanullah Turabi.

The lawyer also clarified that his client had carried out a hepatitis vaccination drive and not a polio campaign and that it was arranged and run under the umbrella of the Prime Minister’s Programme for the Prevention and Control of Hepatitis.

According to him, Dr Turabi was in charge of the programme that appointed Dr Afridi as supervisor for Abbottabad and had provided him with a staff comprising 18-20 members from the district headquarters hospital in Abbottabad.

In the JIT report, Dr Afridi had admitted that he was asked by one of his five ‘handlers’ to carry out the hepatitis vaccination in Abbottabad and return to Islamabad with the results.

Dr Afridi also denied he was in league with American spooks or was directly involved in the top-secret raid by US commandos that killed Bin Laden.

“I had no idea about what was going on…I came to know about the raid only after the US defence secretary took my name and I was arrested,” Afridi was quoted as saying by his lawyer.

The JIT report, on the other hand, claimed Dr Afridi had confessed that he was asked by one of his ‘handlers’ to flee to Afghanistan soon after the Abbottabad raid.

Since his arrest, Dr Afridi’s family has shifted to an unknown place in Pakistan after receiving death threats in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, according to his lawyer.

Dr Afridi’s brother, Jamil Afridi, confirmed his brother’s conversation with his lawyer.

“The connection with the CIA was established by someone else while my brother had no idea that he is being used to assist the secret operation … he was just obeying the instructions deeming it a part of his duty,” Jamil Afridi told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Dr Aafia’s lawyer seeks exchange with Dr Afridi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413676/prisoner-swap-dr-aafia%e2%80%99s-lawyer-seeks-exchange-with-dr-afridi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413676/prisoner-swap-dr-aafia%e2%80%99s-lawyer-seeks-exchange-with-dr-afridi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jul 12 04:59:12 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[huma.imtiaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=413676</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Says they have written to the Pakistan embassy and members of the US Congress.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s lawyer says they have written to the Embassy of Pakistan to repatriate Dr Siddiqui in exchange for Dr Shakil Afridi, and are also in touch with members of the Congress on the issue.


Speaking to The Express Tribune, Tina Foster, Dr Siddiqui’s lawyer, said that they had sent a letter to the Ambassador Sherry Rehman, asking Pakistan to take action to repatriate Dr Siddiqui. However, said Foster, the Embassy of Pakistan has not sent her any “substantiative response” on the letter despite having acknowledged receiving it.

In response to Foster, Nadeem Hotiana, a spokesperson for the Embassy of Pakistan said that Pakistani authorities have been pressing US authorities to repatriate Dr Siddiqui ever since she was in US custody.

The Pakistani Embassy official told The Express Tribune, “Ms Foster did raise the matter of a possible exchange of Shakil Afridi with Dr Aafia. The matter was referred to the concerned authorities in Pakistan. It is not the place of the embassy to unilaterally create a response without Islamabad’s approval.”

Hotiana said that Dr Siddiqui’s lawyer has been told that her suggestions were forwarded to Islamabad. “The embassy essentially had a liaison role in all matters relating to Pakistan-US relations. Decisions were taken by the relevant authorities in the capital.”

Dr Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison on charges of firing on a US soldier in Bagram. Dr Siddiqui’s family says she had been missing with her children for several years before she was discovered in Bagram, and have denied all charges levelled against her.

US authorities accuse Dr Siddiqui of helping al Qaeda, notably Majid Khan, a Guantanamo detainee who recently pleaded guilty to all charges against him.

Dr Shakil Afridi was arrested after it came to light that he helped the CIA in trying to ascertain al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden’s identity in the Abbotabad compound through a fake polio vaccination campaign. He was convicted of helping a militant group and sentenced to 33 years in jail.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a US official said that the US and Pakistan did not have a prisoner exchange treaty. The official said that they were not aware of any formal request from Pakistan on such an exchange.

Laura Lucas, a spokesperson for the State Department told The Express Tribune: “Aafia Siddiqui was convicted after trial and is serving her sentence. It is not clear if the US would accept such a request and if the US did accept, Dr Siddiqui would have to serve her sentence in Pakistan.

Foster said they had made a similar offer to then Interior Minister Rehman Malik in 2011 when CIA contractor Raymond Davis was jailed in Pakistan after killing two men in Lahore.

In her letter, Foster wrote, “Pakistan does not have many opportunities to influence US Government decisions regarding Pakistani citizens in its custody. However, the current situation presents the ideal opportunity to achieve what your Government has consistently stated that it desires the repatriation of Dr Aafia Siddiqui to Pakistan.”

Davis flew to the US in March after blood money was paid to the families of the victims that Davis had shot dead in Lahore.

The Embassy of Pakistan said that they and the Consulate General in Houston are in touch with the prison authorities where Dr Siddiqui is detained, adding that an officer from the consulate general visits Dr Siddiqui nearly every three months, with the last visit taking place in April this year.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Dr Afridi sought asylum in US: Investigators</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413147/revealed-dr-afridi-sought-asylum-in-us-says-investigators</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413147/revealed-dr-afridi-sought-asylum-in-us-says-investigators#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 25 Jul 12 22:25:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[iftikhar.firdous]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=413147</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[JIT report says the tribal doctor was not kidnapped by Lashkar-e-Islam, rather he went voluntarily.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Investigators have made a startling revelation: a tribal doctor who had helped the American CIA track down al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in his Abbottabad compound was not kidnapped by the Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) extremist group as was claimed by him.


Dr Shakil Afridi went along with LeI extremists to treat their injured comrades, according to a report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) submitted to the court on Wednesday.

The Mangal Bagh Afridi-led LeI, which once virtually ruled the entire Bara Tehsil of Khyber Agency, is now holed up in the remote Tirah Valley.

The JIT report claims that Dr Afridi frequently met with Khyber Agency-based extremist groups after his appointment as in-charge of the Dogra Hospital in 2008.

Dr Afridi, who has been convicted of treason by the tribal administration, had applied for American visa in 2008 as most of his relatives were settled in the United States, the report says. Dr Afridi and his children were issued five-year visas while his wife got only one-year visa.

In July 2008, Dr Afridi went to the United States, where he met with another Pakistani doctor who offered him help in seeking asylum. For this purpose, the doctor said, he would have to convince the judge that Dr Afridi was kidnapped by LeI militants.

In November, 2008 Dr Afridi met with ‘Michal, aka Mike’, the country director of Save the Children, who invited him to Islamabad.  When Dr Afridi did not visit him for 10 days, Mike called him up and asked him about the delay. The two agreed to meet at Saeed Book Bank, Jinnah Market, at 7:30pm on Saturday.

Dr Afridi was then driven to a house in F-6 Sector, Islamabad, where he was introduced to a 38-year-old woman, Kate. They had a dinner meeting and then Dr Afridi started seeing them on first Saturday of every month in Islamabad.

According to the JIT report, Dr Afridi has confessed that he had five ‘handlers’: Kate (Dec 2009-May 2010), Toni (May-Aug 2010), Sara (Aug-Nov 2010) and Suee (Dec 2010-May 2011). He also confessed to have met the handlers 22-23 times.

Dr Afridi was assigned the phony vaccination campaign, which led the CIA to the Bin Laden hideout, when Toni was his handler. In January 2011, Suee told Dr Afridi to carry out a hepatitis-B vaccination campaign in Bagh, Muzafarabad, Mansehra and Abbottabad. The vaccination was meant for women between 15 and 45 years of age.

The vaccination drive began on March 13 in Nawa Shehar, Abbotabad. It had to be completed in three phases within 6 months. However, Bilal Town, particularly its Pathan Street, where the Bin Laden compound was located, was included in the vaccination drive after a month.

Suee had asked him to bring empty vials and kits back to Islamabad after completing the campaign.

A ‘prominent house’ in the town (Bin Laden’s compound) had refused to cooperate with the vaccination staff. Lady health workers told Dr Afridi that the house belonged to two brothers from the Waziristan region.

A lady health worker arranged the cell-phone number of one of the men living in the house and called him from Dr Afridi’s phone. “I’m not at home, come in the evening,” the man told the lady health worker.

In the evening, the vaccination kits were taken to Islamabad where Suee enquired about the ‘large house’ in the locality (Bin Laden’s compound). All vaccination kits were handed over to her and Dr Afridi was paid Rs5.3 million.

On May 5/6 Suee called up Dr Afridi and asked him to flee to Afghanistan immediately because his phony vaccination campaign had helped the CIA track down and kill Bin Laden in his Abbottabad compound.

However, Dr Afridi refused to go to Afghanistan because he thought that he had nothing to do with the al Qaeda chief’s death.

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Dr Afridi went to the US in "2009" instead of "2008". A correction has been made.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Dr Afridi, from CIA asset to solitary cell</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/399236/dr-afridi-from-cia-asset-to-solitary-cell</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/399236/dr-afridi-from-cia-asset-to-solitary-cell#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jun 12 04:40:04 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=399236</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Brother says he is constantly trying to evade attention.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[There can be few jail cells in the country as lonely as the one occupied by Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped the CIA hunt down Osama bin Laden.


He is kept in solitary confinement to protect him from hundreds of convicted militants eager to avenge their hero’s death. He may not be safe even from the guards – only two trusted officials are allowed to see him.

Beyond the walls, Afridi is as much a prisoner of Pakistan’s growing resentment of the United States as he is a victim of his own dalliance with high-stakes espionage.

No wonder then that he finds solace in the story of Younus in the Holy Quran, almost identical to that of Jonah in the Old Testament, a prophet whose faith in God delivers him from the belly of a whale.

“My brother was confident that he will be released very soon. He said: ‘I’m innocent, I’ve done nothing wrong,’” Afridi’s brother Jamil told Reuters in a recent interview after visiting the jail in Peshawar.

“There is a prayer said by one of the famous prophets, when he was eaten by a fish,” Jamil added. “Dr Shakil is reciting that same prayer for his safety.”

The history of US spycraft has seen few faster reversals of fortune than Afridi’s journey from a participant in one of the most dramatic covert operations of modern times to isolation in the forbidding confines of Peshawar Central Jail, with red-brick walls and watchtowers.

Jamil Afridi noticed he had gained weight - perhaps because conditions had improved since his transfer to the jail from detention centres used by intelligence agencies.

Jamil, a village schoolteacher, says he himself has been forced to adopt a rudimentary disguise, dark glasses and a cap, to ward off unwanted attention since appearing on TV to defend his younger sibling.

“My brother has become a victim of the US game,” said Jamil, who spends much of his day worried that passersby are actually security agents tailing him. He used the term “angels” for the agents, as many do because they are believed to be everywhere but remain invisible.

“If my brother had really played a role for America, I think the Americans should have kept it secret.”

Published In The Express Tribune, June 26th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Dr Afridi’s relocation plan taking final shape</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/398782/dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-relocation-plan-taking-final-shape</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/398782/dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-relocation-plan-taking-final-shape#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jun 12 04:45:36 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[sumera.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=398782</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Interior ministry to move detained surgeon from Peshawar to a facility near Simly Dam.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The government is finalising arrangements to move Dr Shakil Afridi, jailed for helping the US authorities trace slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, from Peshawar central prison to a detention facility close to Islamabad.


The Express Tribune learnt from reliable sources that despite pressure from some members of Dr Afridi’s family against shifting him from Peshawar, the government has directed the interior ministry to finalise arrangements for moving him to Islamabad.

Dr Afridi will be detained in a rest house near Simly Dam. The facility has previously been used as a detention centre for various high-profile personalities and politicians. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif was detained there with his family following Pervez Musharraf’s coup in 1999.

An official stationed at the dam’s vicinity revealed that “the staff serving the rest house has been alerted to make arrangements and declare the area ‘prohibited’ for routine visitors immediately, without informing them of the reason to ensure Dr Afridi’s security.”

An Intelligence Bureau official in Islamabad told The Express Tribune that “the decision might be unacceptable for Dr Afridi’s family but is truly aimed at securing Peshawar from incidents like the Bannu jailbreak.”

Despite many attempts, the Minister for Prisons and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General (IG) did not confirm Dr Afridi’s transfer to Islamabad.

Simly Dam is located 30km from Bhara Kahu and a 10-15 minutes drive from the Islamabad Convention Centre.

One of the family members of Afridi, requesting anonymity, said that although Peshawar cell possesses adequate security facilities, they have agreed that he should be shifted wherever his security is duly accounted for.

“We want him to be safe. His security is our top priority,” the family member added.

“Although the K-P government is publicly saying that Afridi’s security is not a problem, it is trying to shift him, citing it as a matter of the federation,” the family member pointed out. K-P government has also conveyed a request to Sindh and Punjab to take in Afridi. However, according to sources, the request has been turned down by both the provincial governments.

Published in The Express Tribune, 25th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Brother opposes Dr Afridi’s jail shift</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/397447/brother-opposes-dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-jail-shift</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/397447/brother-opposes-dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-jail-shift#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jun 12 04:59:51 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=397447</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Jamil Afridi, said it would be better to keep Dr Afridi in Central Prison Peshawar as the family considered it safe.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Repeated claims made by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa provincial government about the safety of Dr Shakil Afridi during his incarceration in Peshawar’s central prison were refuted by his family members on Thursday.


Talking to the media following an appeal hearing against Dr Shakil Afridi’s conviction, his brother, Jamil Afridi, said it would be better to keep Dr Afridi in the Central Prison Peshawar as the family considered it safe.

A panel of lawyers, including Dr Afridi’s relative Qamar Afridi, had submitted an appeal on June 1 with the commissioner Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR) Tariq Jamil, challenging the verdict of Assistant Political Agent (APA) Khyber Agency.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22nd, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Not in US interests to cut off relations with Pakistan: Clinton</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/397539/not-in-us-interests-to-cut-off-relations-with-pakistan-clinton</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/397539/not-in-us-interests-to-cut-off-relations-with-pakistan-clinton#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jun 12 01:41:28 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[web.desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=397539</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Says US has no evidence to suggest people at higher level knew about bin Laden. Dr Afridi needs to be released.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[With the bilateral relationship between the US and Pakistan in a troubled spot, Clinton said it was preferred to keep the cooperative relationship with Pakistan, than to totally cut it off.

In a joint interview with Charlie Rose on a show by the same name, both US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Secretary of State James Baker underscored that despite differences on some important regional and international issues, severing ties with Pakistan would not be in Washington's interests.

“I think we need to maintain the relationship with them because they are a nuclear power, and because we do not want to see nuclear conflagration in the sub continent and see any more proliferation than we have already seen,” Baker said.

"I think that our relationship with Pakistan has been challenging for a long time. Some of it is of our own making," Clinton admitted on the programme.

The Secretary added “we are living with a country which has a lot of difficult issues both for themselves and then for us and others.”

Suggesting on how to proceed on the difficult relation, the incumbent Secretary of State said that “first of all I completely agree it is not in our interests to cut off our interest, it is in our interest to do better direct and manage that relationship and we are asking Pakistanis to do more of and better.”

“They have got to do more against safe havens inside their own country.” However the problem that prevented progress was that “extremists have an ace in the hole, they just cross the border they get direction, funding and fighters and they go back across the border,” pointing to how militants were able to escape to uncontrolled regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

No evidence of Pakistan involvement in bin Laden sanctuary

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that so far, the US does not have proof that someone at the top in Pakistan knew about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.

"We have never been able to prove that anyone at the upper levels knew that,” the US Secretary of State said.

"When I first went to Pakistan as Secretary in 2009 that I found it impossible to believe that somebody in their government didn't know where he was, and I still believe that. That he took up residence and built this huge compound in a military garrison town," Clinton said.

"But to be fair, we have no evidence."

"I have no reason to believe that the civilian government knew anything,” she said before adding that the answer perhaps lay with lower level military and intelligence officials. “So who was in what level of responsibility in the military or the ISI, whether they were active or retired, because we do know that there are links to retired members, but we've never been able to close that loop," the Secretary of State said.

Stop treating Dr Shakil Afridi as a ‘criminal’

Clinton once again called on Pakistan to immediately release Dr Shakil Afridi, who had helped the CIA to trace Osama bin Laden, and stop treating him like a "criminal".

"They should release Dr (Shakil) Afridi," Clinton said.

"This is something that is so unnecessary and gratuitous on their part."

Clinton said “Pakistanis claimed he was their enemy as well and my argument to them is that this man contributed to ending the al Qaeda leadership that was in their country and they shouldn’t treat him like a criminal."

Pakistan losing sovereignty 

Pointing out that the militants were harming the host as well, she said that Pakistan, despite the talk of sovereignty, were losing it. “They are losing sovereignty, large areas that are ungoverned, they have a rash of terrible attacks more than 30,000 people have been killed in the last decades. They talk a lot about sovereignty, well the first job of any sovereign nation is to protect your own people and secure your own border and that is what they should be doing.”

Clinton added that Pakistan needs to recognise that “as the US withdraws from Afghanistan it is in their interest to have a strong stable Afghan government and that can only come from by being part of the solution at that [negotiaiton] table to try to help with Afghanistan’s economic, political and security development rather than doing everything possible to undermine it”.

Using aid to leverage

Former Secretary of State James Baker, who had served in during the tenure George Bush Sr, 1989 to 1992, recounted how in his second year in office, had refused to sign a certification that Pakistan was not building a nuclear weapon. That, Baker reminded, eventually led to US aid to Pakistan being cut off.

“At some point we need to seriously think about doing that. We need to get their attention,” he said suggestively.

When Rose asked whether the US could use a threat to stop aid to leverage the US into getting the Pakistani side to stop double dealing the US, Baker  said “I am not sure we give them enough so that’s gonna make them stop them – they should know we are upset about this and that should make them stop.”

Asked by the host whether he was contradicting himself on urging for cancelling aid, Baker said that the US needs to “maintain a relationship with them [Pakistan], but we need to get their attention. We shouldn’t break the relationship right now, sever the relationship totally.”

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>US Senate: Attempt to stop aid to Pakistan blocked</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/393441/us-senate-attempt-to-stop-aid-to-pakistan-blocked</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/393441/us-senate-attempt-to-stop-aid-to-pakistan-blocked#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 14 Jun 12 04:18:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=393441</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Amendment to Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 sought suspension of aid till Shakil Afridi is released.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[US Senator Rand Paul’s amendment to stop US assistance to Pakistan was blocked by Senate majority leader Senator Harry Reid on Wednesday.


Senator Paul, a member of the Tea Party, had introduced an amendment to the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 (known as the farm bill) asking for all US foreign assistance to Pakistan to cease until Dr Shakil Afridi was released and all charges against him were dropped.

While debating the farm bill in Senate, Senator Paul objected to Senate majority leader Reid’s move to ask for unanimous consent to introduce other amendments for debate.  Senator Paul asked for his amendment to be debated, and said, “I don’t think we should continue to send US taxpayer money in the form of foreign aid to Pakistan when they are holding in prison a doctor who simply helped us to get (Osama) bin Laden.”

Senator Paul added that the case was a political one, which could be influenced by US actions. “I think the US taxpayers should not send money to Pakistan when Pakistan is holding this innocent man who helped us get one of the world’s most dangerous men.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14th, 2012.

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>Amendment calling for suspension of US assistance to Pakistan blocked</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/393425/amendment-calling-for-suspension-of-us-assistance-to-pakistan-blocked</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/393425/amendment-calling-for-suspension-of-us-assistance-to-pakistan-blocked#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jun 12 19:28:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[huma.imtiaz]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=393425</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Amendment to Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 sought suspension of aid till Shakil Afridi is released.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Senator Rand Paul’s amendment to stop US assistance to Pakistan has been blocked in the Senate.

Senator Rand Paul, a member of the Tea Party, had introduced an amendment to the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 (aka the farm bill) asking for all US foreign assistance to Pakistan to cease until Dr Shakil Afridi was released and all charges against him were dropped. But Majority leader Senator Harry Reid struck it down.

While debating the farm bill in Senate, Senator Paul objected to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s move to ask for unanimous consent to introduce other amendments for debate.  Senator Paul asked for his amendment to be debated, and said, “I don't think we should continue to send US taxpayer money in the form of foreign aid to Pakistan when they are holding in prison a doctor who simply helped us to get bin Laden.”

Senator Paul added that the case was a political one, which could be influenced by US actions. “I think the US taxpayers should not send money to Pakistan when Pakistan is holding this innocent man who helped us get one of the world's most dangerous men, a mass murderer who killed 3,000 Americans. We captured him with help from Dr Shakil Afridi, and Dr Afridi deserves our help now.”

Dr Shakil Afridi had helped the CIA ascertain the identity of Osama Bin Laden in the Abbotabad compound under the cover of a vaccination drive. Earlier this month, Dr Afridi was sentenced to 33 years of imprisonment under the FCR for helping the militant organisation Lashkar-e-Islam.

But the amendment was not allowed to stand. Responding to Senator Paul, Senator Reid said, “we are on a bill now that just simply does not allow something like that to come forward.”

He added that there were other problems on Pakistan which included the GLOCs that had been debated already in the Foreign Relations Committee. However, he added that there was a time and place for everything, “hopefully, we can have a full debate on our relations with Pakistan in the near future.”]]>
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			<title>K-P government providing adequate security to Dr Afridi: CM</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/392111/k-p-government-providing-adequate-security-to-dr-afridi-cm</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/392111/k-p-government-providing-adequate-security-to-dr-afridi-cm#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 11 Jun 12 16:18:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[web.desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=392111</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[K-P chief minister says provincial government trying its best to shift Dr Shakil Afridi owing to security concerns.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Chief Minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Ameer Haider Hoti said that the responsibility of providing security to Dr Shakil Afridi lay with the K-P government, and the provincial government is doing all it can to provide him safety.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Rozgaar Scheme in Peshawar, Hoti said that Dr Afridi has been kept in the Central Jail Peshawar, like all other criminals, and owing to the security concerns, it is providing him adequate security.

For Dr Afridi’s security, the K-P government has also contacted the federal government to shift him to another province. However, the Punjab government has refused to host him in the Adiala Jail or any other jail in Punjab, Hoti added.

He further said that the provincial government is still trying its best to transfer Dr Afridi to another prison. But, he added, that the issue of Dr Afridi is not the only issue and there are other issues which also need to be addressed.]]>
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			<title>Fraught with risk: Punjab refuses to house Dr Afridi in Adiala Jail</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/391840/fraught-with-risk-punjab-refuses-to-house-dr-afridi-in-adiala-jail</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/391840/fraught-with-risk-punjab-refuses-to-house-dr-afridi-in-adiala-jail#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 11 Jun 12 03:57:36 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[umer.farooq]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Punjab]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=391840</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Punjab’s govt says Dr Afridi has become security threat, province cannot afford to take another law and order burden.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Punjab government has refused to accommodate Dr Shakil Afridi at the Adiala Jail saying the province already has its fair share of law and order problems.


The federal government had requested Punjab’s provincial administration to house Dr Shakil Afridi, said to be responsible for divulging information on Osama Bin Laden’s whereabouts to the US. However, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said on Sunday that Punjab has turned down the request.

Punjab’s government maintains that Dr Afridi has become a security threat and that the province cannot afford to take upon itself another law and order burden.

Shakil was sentenced to 33 years of imprisonment by the political administration of the tribal area after consultation with a local Jirga on May 23 for allegedly maintaining ties with banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Islam. He was sent to Peshawar’s central prison, but a letter was recently issued by K-P’s home and tribal affairs department to the federal government seeking his transfer. K-P officials maintained that Dr Afridi posed a security threat and was not safe in Peshawar.

“Keeping Dr Afridi at the central prison in Peshawar is risky keeping in view the recent attack on Banu Jail. We cannot keep him here and that is why we wrote a letter to the interior ministry to shift Dr Afridi to Adiala Jail as soon as possible,” official sources earlier told The Express Tribune.

A number of human rights activists and lawyers stood up for Dr Afridi after his imprisonment. Shakil’s counsel, Adovate Qamar and members of the Aman Tehreek have also moved the Frontier Crimes Regulation commissioner and challenged the sentence.

Aman Tehreek’s convener Idrees Kamal said the Peshawar Central Jail is hosting a number of high-profile militants and that the government should provide foolproof security to ensure Afridi’s safety.

“The first hearing of the case is scheduled for June 21. Don’t you think it would be difficult for authorities to drive Dr Afridi from Adiala to Peshawar?” questioned Kamal.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Why over-egg the pudding?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/389735/why-over-egg-the-pudding</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/389735/why-over-egg-the-pudding#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 06 Jun 12 17:06:34 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[tariq.fatemi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=389735</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[We should have simply slept over Dr Afridi's case and let the dust settle down before acting legally.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Most governments operate in rather mysterious ways, but few make decisions as inexplicable as our government does.

We are currently witness to one such incident. Dr Shakil Afridi, officially credited by the Americans for having cooperated with the CIA in tracking down Osama bin Laden, has been sentenced to 33 years in jail by a local official in the tribal areas. Whatever the merits of the case — best left to the lawyers — it is the timing that one finds difficult to neglect.

Both countries have acknowledged that despite working diligently to sift through the debris of their differences, the progress has been painfully slow. This was therefore, a time for seeking closure to current problems, not adding to the laundry list of mutual recriminations, but trusts our leadership to do the unimaginable! Knowing full well that the doctor was currently America’s favourite poster child, we should have simply slept over his case and let the dust settle down before acting legally. In failing to appreciate that his imprisonment would be seen as wilful provocation, we demonstrated ignorance of the finer points of diplomacy.

Not surprisingly, our American friends have found the doctor’s imprisonment a welcome opportunity to ratchet up pressure on us. American officials have joined hands with members of Congress to express anger and distress at Afridi’s sentence, viewing it as both cruel and unwarranted, while highlighting his services in obtaining valuable information about Bin Laden’s whereabouts. There should, however, be no surprise in America’s protests. Its leaders have always viewed themselves as both the judge and jury in such cases, conveniently forgetting that no country ever allows its citizens to engage in espionage activities for a foreign power, however noble or innocuous the cause may be.

What the Americans are saying in Afridi’s defence is what US citizen Jonathan Pollard said in his defence when caught spying for Israel, i.e., that since he was working for America’s closest strategic ally and for the common good of the two, he could not be accused of spying for a foreign power. However, he remains in jail, notwithstanding tremendous pressure for his release. Israeli citizen Mordachai Vanunu spent years in jail for revealing information on Israel’s secret nuclear programme (which it denied) that introduced weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to a region that aspired to be a nuclear weapon-free zone. Notwithstanding his noble objectives, Vanunu was kidnapped from Italy by Israeli agents and sentenced to long imprisonment, without a murmur from the US.

The well-known Kashmiri freedom fighter Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai, was recently jailed in the US for taking funds from a foreign power to canvass support for the Kashmiris’ right of self determination — a right promised to them by the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions to which the US is a party as well.

Would Cuba have been justified in engaging American citizens to spy against their government to ascertain the illegal measures that were undertaken by Washington to destabilise the Government of Cuba? Incidentally, these included giving support and shelter to those who had hijacked Cuban aircraft and flown to the US.

Some have cited UNSC resolution 1267 in Afridi’s defence. This resolution calls upon states (not individuals) to hand over Bin Laden’s to the US whenever and wherever captured, but international law does not create a responsibility on individuals to disregard their domestic laws which, in any case, is the citizen’s primary responsibility.

Whatever the merits of the case, the Americans have confirmed that Afridi was in the employ of their intelligence agency and received monetary payments for his services. Moreover, his willingness to use his medical credentials to carry out an espionage activity that also discredited a sorely needed anti-polio campaign, cannot be condoned. He may, therefore, have broken quite a few of the country’s laws, but Pakistan still should have avoided ‘over egging the pudding.’

Published In The Express Tribune, June 7th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Dr Afridi’s trial — why the FCR needs urgent reform</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/389178/dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-trial-%e2%80%94-why-the-fcr-needs-urgent-reform</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/389178/dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-trial-%e2%80%94-why-the-fcr-needs-urgent-reform#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 05 Jun 12 16:53:12 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[muhammad.zubair]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=389178</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Anyone accused has right to be tried in a regular court, to file multiple appeals against conviction, not under FCR.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Details of the order of the Assistant Political Agent (APA) of Khyber Agency, who convicted Dr Shakil Afridi, are shocking. Contrary to what had been reported earlier, the order reveals that Afridi was tried and convicted not for his role in locating Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad but for having links with a banned militant organisation in Khyber Agency called Lashkar-e-Islam (LI), headed by the notorious Mangal Bagh. The order also recommended a fresh trial by a regular court for “acting with other foreign intelligence agencies”.

It appears that the establishment wanted to ensure that Afridi gets the maximum punishment under the draconian Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) for his alleged links with the LI and to preempt the possibility of his release by a regular court in case he is tried for his role in Abbottabad saga and found innocent. Whatever may have been reasons for his conviction under the FCR, Afridi’s trial and conviction serves to remind all of us of the unjust and cruel nature of the so-called justice system that prevails in Fata. The FCR is a legacy of the British and has survived any meaningful reform.

The order of the APA charges Afridi with having “close links” and a “deep affiliation” with the LI and providing financial and medical assistance to the outfit and its militants. He was accused of holding meetings with LI commanders in his hospital office for planning attacks on security forces and for preferring “to serve under Mangal Bagh rather than the Government of Pakistan”. According to the order, the APA and the Council of Elders (or local jirga) relied on “reports” and “complaints” of “various intelligence agencies” and “people in general” for reaching its findings about Dr Afridi. It also claims that he was given “ample opportunity to defend himself”.

Under the laws of Pakistan an accused has the right to be considered innocent till proven guilty; to not be tortured for purposes of extracting incriminating evidence or made a witness again himself; to be defended by the counsel of his choice; to not be kept in police custody beyond 24 hours without prior authorisation of a court and to be able to cross-examine witnesses or rebut other adverse evidence presented against him in a court. Most importantly, anyone accused of a charge has the right to be tried in a regular court and has the right to file multiple appeals against conviction, going all the way, if need be, to the Supreme Court. Clearly, Dr Afridi was not given ‘ample opportunity’, either to defend himself or to have a lawyer appear on his behalf and cross-examine those testifying against him.

That said, the reality is that the Dr Afridi and rest of the people of Fata do not have the above rights because the FCR does not recognise them. In fact, his trial is a good example of how the justice system operates in the tribal areas and precisely why the FCR needs to be amended. The judiciary and the executive were separated in the late 1990s but only in name. Even today the APAs and other appellate authorities under the FCR remain essentially executive authorities with judicial powers.

Furthermore, the Action in Aid of Civil Power Regulations promulgated in 2011 protected all military actions retrospectively from 2008. They allowed the military authorities to give evidence and also protected members of the armed forces from prosecution in the regular courts for any abuse or misuse of force — by ensuring that any investigation into any such act would be done within the forces.

The fact of the matter is that the military establishment has been the greatest obstacle in the way of reform in Fata for keeping the region as a strategic backyard for pursuing the notorious policy of ‘strategic depth’ in Afghanistan. One may recall President Asif Ali Zardari’s announcement on August 14, 2009, that fundamental reform would be in introduced in Fata but he was able to extract only some cosmetic and belated reforms from the military establishment.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Difa-e-Pakistan demands death sentence for Dr Shakil Afridi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/389192/difa-e-pakistan-demands-death-sentence-for-dr-shakil-afridi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/389192/difa-e-pakistan-demands-death-sentence-for-dr-shakil-afridi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 05 Jun 12 15:55:12 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[web.desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=389192</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[DPC leaders maintain that Dr Afridi committed treason and should not be spared for it.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) remarked on Tuesday that Pakistan should not “commit the mistake” of handing Dr Shakil Afridi over to the US, and should give him “nothing less than a death sentence”, reported Express News on Tuesday.

This was stated by DPC leaders, including Maulana Samiul Haq, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed and Jamat-i-Islami (JI) chief Syed Munawar Hussain, during a press conference in Nowshera.

The leaders maintained that Dr Afridi had committed treason and should not be spared for it.

Dr Afridi ran a fake vaccination programme designed to collect information about the presence of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad by running DNA tests on samples surreptitiously collected from his family. Bin Laden was subsequently shot dead in a US raid in May 2011. Dr Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in prison by a tribal court on charges of treason, for collaborating with militants.

After his sentencing, a furious Senate Appropriations Committee voted to cut US aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33 million – $1 million for each year of jail time. Another legislation was introduced in the US Senate on Tuesday demanding a cut in all aid to Pakistan unless Dr Afridi is released and allowed to leave the country.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has termed the sentence “unjust and unwarranted”, saying Dr Afridi was “instrumental in taking down one of the world’s most-wanted murderers”.]]>
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			<title>US Senator introduces legislation seeking cut to Pakistan aid</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/389125/us-senator-introduces-legislation-seeking-cut-to-pakistan-aid</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/389125/us-senator-introduces-legislation-seeking-cut-to-pakistan-aid#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 05 Jun 12 11:46:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[web.desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=389125</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Legislation demands US stop all aid unless Dr Shakil Afridi is released and allowed to leave the country.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[US Senator Rand Paul introduced legislation demanding US aid to Pakistan to be cut off unless Dr Shakil Afridi – sentenced in Pakistan for helping CIA locate al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden – is released, said a press release.

The legislation demanded that all US assistance to Pakistan be cut off unless Dr Afridi is released from prison, all charges against him are dropped and he is allowed to leave Pakistan.

Two bills were attached to the legislation. The first demanded Pakistan to overturn Dr Afridi’s 33-year prison sentence and allow him to leave the country, and the second asked granting Dr Afridi US citizenship for his efforts.

Earlier when Paul proposed the bill, he had said, “They accuse Dr Afridi of working against Pakistan, but he was simply helping the US capture the head of al Qaeda. Surely Pakistan is not linking their interests with those of an international terrorist organisation.”

The former government surgeon ran a fake vaccination programme designed to collect Bin Laden family DNA from the compound in the town of Abbottabad, where the al Qaeda leader was shot dead in a US raid in May 2011.

After his sentencing, a furious Senate Appropriations Committee voted to cut US aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33 million – $1 million for each year of jail time.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the sentence was “unjust and unwarranted”, saying Dr Afridi was “instrumental in taking down one of the world’s most-wanted murderers”.]]>
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			<title>To an undisclosed location: Arrangements to relocate ‘CIA doctor’ finalised</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/388020/to-an-undisclosed-location-arrangements-to-relocate-%e2%80%98cia-doctor%e2%80%99-finalised</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/388020/to-an-undisclosed-location-arrangements-to-relocate-%e2%80%98cia-doctor%e2%80%99-finalised#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 03 Jun 12 04:32:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=388020</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Earlier, the K-P govt had requested the federal govt to shift Dr Shakil Afridi to another prison.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Arrangements have been made to shift Dr Shakil Afridi from Peshawar Central Jail to an undisclosed location, sources told The Express Tribune on Saturday.


Afridi, who ran a fake vaccination campaign to facilitate CIA’s hunt for Osama bin Laden, has been in internment in Peshawar Central Jail following his conviction under the Frontier Crimes Regulation by the political administration of Khyber Agency.

Officials at the central jail, on condition of anonymity, said they had been ordered by the government to prepare a challan for shifting Afridi to a safe location.

Officials said they have sent the challan to the Home Department for approval. Guards and a bullet-proof vehicle have also been prepared by the police for this purpose.

“The government does not want to attract too much attention, and as a pre-cautionary measure, we have been asked to prepare an open challan so that the man could be shifted anywhere,” officials said.

They added that Afridi had been kept in a high-security area in the jail, isolated from the rest of the prisoners, since there was unrest due to his arrival among the prisoners in general, and Taliban militants in particular.

“We fear that he could be beaten to death by prisoners if they get a chance; so armed police commandoes are guarding him 24 hours a day,” officials said.

Afridi could be shifted any time since the documents have been completed and the security arrangements finalised, they added.

“This man cannot be moved to any other jail, so Attock Fort and Qila Balahisar Fort are the ideal locations since there are no ordinary prisoners there,” the officials added.

The government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had earlier requested the federal government to shift Afridi to another prison.

“Hardcore militants are present in Peshawar prison and Afridi is a high profile prisoner which is why we have requested he be relocated” K-P Chief Minister, Ameer Haider Khan Hoti, had said during his brief interaction with media. The chief minister noted that the provincial government was cognisant of the Bannu Jail break incident and security measures were being put in place to avoid such incidents in the future.

Dr Afridi was arrested following Bin Laden’s death in a surgical strike by US forces in Abbottabad. Dr Afridi had set up a fake polio campaign at the behest of CIA to obtain DNA samples from the al Qaeda leader. However, Dr Afridi was sentenced to 33 years imprisonment over alleged ties with banned terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) rather than espionage.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3rd, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Adding to the confusion</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/387419/adding-to-the-confusion</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/387419/adding-to-the-confusion#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 01 Jun 12 19:12:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[amina.jilani]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=387419</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Slammed by human rights activists, members of legal fraternity,Afridi's sentence has found favour with the government.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[As is the norm, confusion (or ‘confuyion’ as popular lingo often has it) has the upper hand in the dysfunctional republic. Columns of newsprint have been devoted, at home and in the international press, to the matter of Dr Shakil Afridi’s conviction by a “tribal court”. Slammed by human rights activists and certain members of the legal fraternity (itself somewhat in a state of confusion), defended by others using differing arguments, it has of course, found favour with the federal government following its own expedient xenophobia-supportive temporary stance.

Then, on May 30, came a press report informing the public that Dr Afridi had actually been found guilty, not of aiding the CIA in the tracking down of Osama bin Laden, but of having ‘links’ with Mangal Bagh and his banned Lashkar-e-Islam.

A Reuters report of the same day took the ad hominem line and did a bit of character assassination on the erring doctor, accusing him, inter alia, of corruption and of sexual harassment. Well... be that irrelevant as it may to the case, the entire episode has not helped at all with a dangerously fractured relationship between a dismal Pakistan and the sole superpower — which has not been improved by either irritatingly thoughtless or anodyne pronouncements of a deliberately clueless leadership. And this includes the chairman of the ruling party, who should emulate his eminently street-smart father who says little most of the time and sticks to a behind-the-scenes outmanoeuvring of his rivals and opponents.

Robert Fisk, who can always be relied upon for a dose of home truths, writing in The Independent on May 28, under the heading “Clinton’s USD33m raid on Pakistan shows that, in the end, hypocrisy will win”, after citing instances of alleged helpers of foreign powers in host countries, sums up the lopping off of 33 million “smackers” from Pakistan’s aid budget:

“It’s about hypocrisy. Sure, Pakistan is a corrupt country. Sure, it is corrupt from the shoeshiner up to the pinnacles of power. But I suppose in the end, if you’re going to prostitute yourself to America — financially and militarily, as Pakistan has done for decades — that’s the price you pay, which is why hypocrisy will win. For Dr Afridi, I predict, will be quietly given a substantial reduction in his sentence, will be released — or will disappear — from his Pakistani prison and, in a few months or years, when Zardari has scored enough points from Dr Afridi’s imprisonment, the good doctor will pop up in the US with a fine medical practice and the pleasure of knowing, of course, that La Clinton has re-endowed Pakistan with its missing USD33m.”

There is not much arguing against all this as facts and past events uphold his summation and prediction. The $33 million works out at one million dollars for each year of the sentence, so we may not see the entire amount unless the government acts swiftly, which might be a tad difficult given the present national mood. Nor can one disagree with another commentator from over the oceans, Australian Tony Letford, who, writing in the local press, puts the Afridi case down to “a virulent anti-Americanism [which] is leading many Pakistanis, including high government officials, into a form of moral blindness, alarmingly similar to the situation that prevailed in Germany in the 1930s, and led to the rise of Hitler”.

So, let’s move on to the general xenophobic trend in a country that relies upon handouts from foreign powers, led by the reviled USA, to keep it afloat and from remittances from its own nationals who have in desperation moved out and away to make better lives for themselves.

The moving out and away, justified and approved, by none other than the prime minister about whom there is much confusion as to whether he should legally (forget morally — morals have nothing to do with anything in the Islamic Republic) still be sitting where he is.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2nd, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Dr Shakil Afridi appeals conviction: Charity</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/387330/dr-shakil-afridi-appeals-conviction-charity</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/387330/dr-shakil-afridi-appeals-conviction-charity#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 01 Jun 12 08:54:02 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=387330</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Idress Kamal, who heads the Peace Movement, says appeal filed against Dr Afridi's conviction.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Lawyers representing the Pakistani doctor jailed after helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden appealed against his conviction on Friday.

Shakil Afridi was on May 24 sentenced to 33 years in jail under the tribal justice system, worsening Pakistan's already precarious relationship with the the United States.

He was arrested after US troops killed Bin Laden in May 2011 in the town of Abbottabad where he set up a fake vaccination programme in the hope of obtaining DNA samples to confirm the al Qaeda leader's presence.

But he was convicted for treason over alleged ties to Lashkar-e-Islam and not for working for the CIA, for which the court said it did not have jurisdiction.

"We have filed an appeal against his conviction and have challenged his sentence and the charges levelled against him," said Idress Kamal, who heads the Peace Movement, an anti-militancy civil society group that has taken up Afridi's case.

Kamal said the appeal was filed in a court headed by the commissioner of Peshawar who hears appeals against judgements meted out under the tribal justice system known as the Frontier Crimes Regulation.

"All the charges labelled against him were baseless. Shakil Afridi had no links with Lashkar-e-Islam," Kamal said.

The faction, led by warlord Mangal Bagh, is widely feared for kidnappings and extortion in the tribal district of Khyber, where Afridi worked for years.

His conviction said Afridi had "close links" to the group, but the militia has denied any links with Afridi and has threatened to kill him.]]>
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			<title>The ‘CIA doctor’: Lashkar-e-Islam denies links with Dr Afridi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/387101/the-%e2%80%98cia-doctor%e2%80%99-lashkar-e-islam-denies-links-with-dr-afridi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/387101/the-%e2%80%98cia-doctor%e2%80%99-lashkar-e-islam-denies-links-with-dr-afridi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 01 Jun 12 03:35:34 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[amirzada.afridi]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=387101</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Banned outfit vows to kill doctor accused of assisting the CIA locate Bin Laden.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Militants of Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) have categorically rejected a statement by the government that Dr Shakil Afridi provided them financial and medical assistance. They have said that the news story was planted in the media by intelligence agencies.


Talking to The Express Tribune on Thursday from an undisclosed location, a spokesperson for the banned outfit, Abu Rasheed Lashkari, asserted that their organisation should not be linked with the doctor, who is accused of helping the CIA locate Osama bin Laden.

He said that four years back they had arrested Dr Afridi, when locals complained that he had carried out a fake kidney surgery on one of the tribesman, and later shifted him to a hospital in Peshawar.

“We picked him from his private clinic,” the spokesman said.

“After paying a fine of Rs1 million and guaranteeing that he would never perform surgeries in the Khyber Agency, we released him,” said the LI spokesperson.

He also trashed reports that that Dr Afridi provided any medical assistance to militants in his clinic, or that his office was used to make plans to target government officials.

“We never saw him in Tehsil Bara of Khyber Agency after we released him; he was living in Hayatabad, Peshawar.”

Officials of the political administration refrained to comment upon the issue when contacted.

Militants vow death for ‘CIA doctor’

Meanwhile, militants accused of conspiring with Dr Shakil threatened to kill him.

Dr Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in jail on May 24 after he was found guilty of treason under the archaic system of tribal justice.

He was arrested after US troops killed Bin Laden in May 2011 in Abbottabad where he set up a fake vaccination programme in the hope of obtaining DNA samples to confirm the al Qaeda leader’s presence.

But he was convicted for treason over alleged ties to LI and not for working for the CIA, for which the court said it did not have jurisdiction.

Another spokesman and a commander of the banned organisation both told AFP that they had nothing to do with Dr Afridi.

“We have no links to such a shameless man. If we see him, we’ll chew him alive,” the commander said on condition of anonymity.

“Whenever and wherever we get an opportunity to kill him, we will. If we can, we will even kill him inside the jail,” Hussain told AFP.

Hussain rejected any alleged links with Dr Afridi as “false and concocted”, saying he had been fined and expelled from Khyber “three or four years ago”.

On the other hand, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan also threatened Dr Afridi’s life.

“He is now on top of our list. We will cut him into pieces when and where we manage to reach him,” spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone.

“This court judgement and punishment is all a drama, staged to hand him over to America,” Ehsan added.

(WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING FROM AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Another death foretold?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386857/another-death-foretold</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386857/another-death-foretold#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 31 May 12 18:14:53 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[kamran.shafi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=386857</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Emphasis is on Afridi, who has not been charged with treason, but on vague charges of colluding with Lashkar-i-Islam.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Considering how very incensed the Deep State gets the more you hold a mirror to it; and being conscious of the sudden torrent of vile abuse and, worse, dastardly and outlandish allegations presently being heaped upon yours truly, I wanted to write about dog shows and fat Labradors this week. However, this is the Land of the Pure, where ever newer horrors are visited upon us every single minute of every single day, some couched in words. All of them, you can be sure, spoken from on high: as if the sermonisers were standing on some particularly elevated moral ground, with us mortals crawling somewhere down there.

To come straight to the point, the following words in Lt.-Gen. Asad Durrani’s article “The second oldest profession” in this newspaper of May 29 sent a very, very cold chill down my spine. Said the general: “I do not know if Afridi should have been tried by a jirga or in a court of law, under tribal decree or under the country’s penal code, but I do know that for him, it is not yet all over.” And as if that was not disturbing enough: “I think Dr Afridi will get another chance to administer a polio vaccine; the next time in the Promised Land.” I ask you.

Who does not know that Dr Shakil Afridi, the man who helped our ally in the War on Terror find Osama bin Laden a few hundred metres from the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, Abbottabad Cantonment, is a ‘Dead Man Walking’? He is in Peshawar Jail, which is as vulnerable to attack by the mighty Taliban as Bannu Jail where they first bribed their way in; then garlanded and honoured General Musharraf’s convicted attacker, Adnan Rasheed (who was sentenced to death) with a dastarbandi (adorning him with a turban), and then made video recordings of their great feat, rehearsed firing and all. We have to note that not a single person was even injured in that Great Escape in which nearly 400 prisoners, some of them dangerous terrorists, escaped. So, where’s the problem in ‘rubbing out’ Shakil Afridi in Peshawar Jail?

However, for a former head of the ISI to say almost gleefully what he said, Durrani certainly deserves mention. Specially, and I say this as someone who lauded his stand on the Mehrangate scandal: admitting that as a Pakistan army general he should not have done what he did, being such a senior person. Indeed, what he said about Afridi is way out of court.

And now to the jailbreak. There is not a squeak out of the leaders and the spokesmen of the Ghairat Brigades about that catastrophe. Remember that we know that Adnan Rasheed worked for Amjad Farooqi, who in turn worked for Abu Faraj al Libi and is also known to have been a member of these extremist organisations at various times: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan; Harkatul Ansar; Harkatul Mujahideen; Harkatul Jihad-al-Islami in which he is said to have been this group’s pointman with al Qaeda’s International Islamic Front. Quite a beauty, what? Yet, not a word about the jailbreak and its links with al Qaeda, especially when one of the prisoners who escaped was accused of plotting to kill the then chief of army staff himself!

The only emphasis is on Afridi, and please note this, who has not been charged with treason, but who has been convicted on vague charges of colluding with Mangal Bagh’s Lashkar-i-Islam, becoming the very first person to be jailed for such crimes. And that too for 33 years! He was not found ‘involved in clandestine work on behalf of a foreign power’, as stated by Durrani.

A short aside: a reader sent me the following email (words mine): “Why were 33 years handed down to Shakil Afridi for exposing a terrorist, and 20 kanals of choicest land with a custom-built madrasa at H-11 handed over to another terrorist? Whither the blood of 12 SSG commandos/Rangers killed in the Lal Masjid operation?” I could add, whither the blood of the three policemen and two Rangers killed earlier while the Lal Masjid/Jamia Hafsa Mafia were openly flouting the law; occupying government property; calling for the overthrow of the state; kidnapping and beating up lay people; setting video shops on fire as far away as Bhara Kahu; and generally holding the people of Islamabad and environs to ransom? Yet, not a sound out of the sermonisers on this either. It is as if Shakil Afridi is the only horror around, and his ‘conviction’ is the be-all and end-all for Pakistan and its ‘sovereignty’.

And now for dog shows and fat Labradors. The ‘show’ standard for Labs, is, literally, ‘fat’ and heavy dogs. My handsome Henry, and his mother, the quite beautiful Bella aka ‘Kishmish of Wah’, wrestle with each other and run up and down the field at my home for hours on end. They swim and try to catch the fish (idiots!) in my spring-fed pool at least ten times a day in this heat. The result is extremely muscular, active, happy dogs; not fat! So, for these two no more ‘showing’.

I might add that this is not to take away from some fine kennels with great Lab breeds in Pakistan. Some names that immediately spring to mind of excellent breeders are those of that great gentleman, Colonel Kenneth M Roy, the president of the Kennel Club of Pakistan; Babar and Muhammad Nasrullah Khan of Daska, and Syed Tasveer Shah of Lahore. Well done all. But I and mine are out of it! Don’t want my dogs to die painful deaths when their time comes, as a direct result of hauling so much weight about!

Have to end on Shakil Afridi: This country must brace itself for a horrific fallout if the man is harmed whilst in jail. But mayhap the time has come to end this whole charade: let’s just tell the world to go to hell, and be done with it. We have many, many ‘bums’ after all.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Militants deny links with Dr Shakil Afridi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386800/militants-deny-links-with-dr-shakil-afridi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386800/militants-deny-links-with-dr-shakil-afridi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 31 May 12 07:44:28 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=386800</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Militant commander says Rs2 million was a fine imposed on Afridi for overcharging patients.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The militants accused in court of conspiring with Dr Shakil Afridi who was recruited by the CIA to find Osama bin Laden said Thursday they had nothing to do with him and would kill him if they had the chance.

Shakil Afridi was sentenced to 33 years in jail after he was found guilty of treason.

Afridi was convicted by the court of treason under the penal code, but for alleged ties to Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) and not for working for the CIA.

LeI, led by Mangal Bagh, is a militant organisation feared for kidnappings and extortion in the Kyber district.

The court order said Afridi had "close links" to the group, saying the doctor's "love" for Bagh and his "association with him was an open secret".

But a commander in the organisation told AFP that they had nothing to do with Afridi.

"We have no link to such a shameless man. If we see him we'll chew him alive," the commander said on condition of anonymity.

The court said Afridi paid Rs2 million ($21,000) to Lashkar-e-Islam and helped to provide medical assistance to militant commanders in Khyber.

But the commander said the $21,000 was a fine imposed for over-charging patients.

"Afridi and his fellow doctor were fleecing tribesmen, giving them fake medicines and doing fake surgeries. We had a lot of complaints against them and imposed a fine of two million rupees on them," he said.

Local residents also told AFP that Bagh fined Afridi for performing "unnecessary surgeries and over-charging" patients at his private clinic in the town of Bara.]]>
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			<title>Dr Afridi rejected US escape: officials</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386661/dr-afridi-rejected-us-escape-officials</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386661/dr-afridi-rejected-us-escape-officials#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 31 May 12 03:56:37 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[agencies]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=386661</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Reasons remain unclear; K-P govt fears Afridi could be attacked in Peshawar prison.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Dr Shakil Afridi, the doctor who helped the CIA track down Osama bin Laden, had turned down an opportunity to leave Pakistan and resettle overseas with his family, two US officials said.          


The US officials said the resettlement offer for Dr Afridi came about the time of last year’s raid in which US commandos killed the al Qaeda leader at his complex in Abbottabad.

They indicated that Dr Afridi’s family would have been welcome to leave Pakistan with him as part of the resettlement plan. The officials said he rejected the offer for reasons that are unclear.

Dr Afridi was sentenced to 33 years imprisonment by an assistant political agent of Khyber Agency and is currently being held in Peshawar, where authorities fear his life may be under threat.

“Before he was arrested, Dr Afridi was offered opportunities to leave Pakistan with his family but he turned those down,” one of the US officials said.

“No one, including the doctor, could have foreseen that Pakistan would punish so severely someone whose work benefited the country,” the official said.

Another official said Afridi may have believed that rather than becoming the object of character attacks and accusations of treason by Pakistani authorities, he might instead have won praise for his role in helping rid Pakistan of a threat to its security.

The White House and State department declined to comment on the matter.

Fears for safety 

Meanwhile, a dispute between federal and provincial authorities has surfaced after the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government wrote a letter to the federal government requesting to shift Dr Afridi from Peshawar’s central prison.

Sources within the K-P Home and Tribal Affairs Department confirmed that the letter was written last week, to which the federal government is yet to respond.

“Dr Afridi’s life is in danger and we have been in close contact with the federal government. We wrote them a letter to shift Dr Afridi, probably to Adiala Jail. However, we are yet to receive a response,” the officials said.

“There are more than 3,000 prisoners here and 250 of them are incarcerated on terror charges. These diehard militants could attack Dr Afridi,” K-P Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told AFP.

Strict security measures have been taken inside the Peshawar prison.

(WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY UMER FAROOQ IN PESHAWAR)

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31st, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Federal govt miffed over K-P’s demand to move Afridi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386297/federal-govt-miffed-over-k-p%e2%80%99s-demand-to-move-afridi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386297/federal-govt-miffed-over-k-p%e2%80%99s-demand-to-move-afridi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 May 12 14:37:23 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[umer.farooq]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=386297</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Provincial officials ask for doctor to be shifted from Peshawar Central Jail citing threats to his life.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Disputes have surfaced between federal and provincial authorities after the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government wrote a letter to the federal government to shift Dr Shakil Afridi from Peshawar Central Prison, citing threats to his life.

Sources within Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs Department confirmed that a letter was written last week and that the federal government is yet to respond to the letter.

“This is a very serious issue. Afridi’s life is in danger and we have been in close contact with the federal government. We wrote them a letter to shift Afridi, probably to Adiala Jail. However, we are yet to receive a response from the federal government,” the source said.

Strict security measures have been taken inside the Peshawar prison where Afridi, sentenced to 33 years of imprisonment by an assistant political agent of Khyber Agency, is being held.

According to recently revealed court documents, Dr Afridi has been convicted for his links to the banned Khyber Agency-based militant outfit Lashkar-e-Islam. The controversial doctor had also helped American intelligence officials track down Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts in Pakistan by running a fake polio vaccination campaign.]]>
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			<title>Fears for safety of Dr Afridi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386286/fears-for-safety-of-dr-afridi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386286/fears-for-safety-of-dr-afridi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 May 12 11:51:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=386286</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[K-P minister says militants detained at Peshawar jail can attack Afridi, do not want a replay of Bannu jail break.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Pakistani authorities on Wednesday said that they feared the doctor recruited by the CIA to help find Osama bin Laden could be killed and demanded he be transferred to a more secure prison.

Dr Shakil Afridi was last week sentenced to 33 years in jail after he was found guilty of treason under a system of tribal justice.

According to a copy of the May 24 verdict, Afridi was convicted of treason under the penal code, but for alleged ties to a warlord and not working for the CIA. He is being held in the central jail in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

"We have requested the federal government to move Doctor Shakil Afridi from Peshawar to another jail. We fear he could be attacked," Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told AFP.

"There are more than 3,000 prisoners here and 250 of them are incarcerated on terror charges. These diehard militants could attack Afridi.

"Intelligence agencies also warned us about the possibility of an attack on him. We do not want a replay of the recent jail break in Bannu."

On April 15, nearly 400 prisoners escaped a jail in the northwestern town of Bannu during a gun, grenade and rocket attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.

The doctor's verdict says evidence that he acted "with other foreign intelligence agencies" could not be taken into account "for the lack of jurisdiction" in the tribal belt.

Analysts said the order was issued to justify why Afridi was tried in the tribal belt, rather than in government-controlled areas, and to taint his reputation.

"The verdict also indicates flexibility," said retired general Talat Masood.

"There is lot of space for both sides, he may be released after the verdict is possibly overturned and the US should therefore not insist on his release."

Afridi worked for the CIA by collecting DNA to verify Bin Laden's presence in the town of Abbottabad, where Navy SEALs killed the al Qaeda leader in May 2011.

The United States has been enraged by Afridi's sentencing and the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to cut aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33 million.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said jailing the man who helped find "the most notorious terrorist in our times" had harmed efforts to repair relations been Islamabad and Washington.

But the court order said Afridi had "close links" to tribal militant group Lashkar-e-Islam, saying the doctor's "love" for the group's leader Mangal Bagh "and association with him was an open secret."

It said the accused provided two million rupees ($22,000) to Lashkar-e-Islam and helped to provide medical assistance to militant commanders in Khyber, in the tribal belt.

Officials in Afridi's home district of Khyber refused to elaborate. Mutahir Zeb Khan, the top administrator, said only: "Reasons given in the judgement are very clear and that's it."

On Tuesday, doctor Fuwad Khan, director general of health services in the tribal belt, refuted a smear campaign that Afridi was corrupt and a womaniser.

"There was no complaint against him on the record so no inquiry has ever been conducted as per the official record," he told AFP.]]>
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			<title>Dr Shakil Afridi jailed for ‘militant links’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386265/dr-shakil-afridi-jailed-for-%e2%80%98militant-links%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386265/dr-shakil-afridi-jailed-for-%e2%80%98militant-links%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 May 12 10:09:43 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=386265</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Court says Afridi had 'close links' to Lashkar-e-Islam, says his 'love' for group, group's leader was an open...]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The court that convicted Dr Shakil Afridi who helped find Osama bin Laden jailed him for alleged ties to a warlord and not working for the CIA, according to the verdict obtained by AFP Wednesday.

Dr Afridi was last week sentenced to 33 years in prison and found guilty of treason under tribal justice.

A copy of the May 24 verdict said evidence that the accused acted “with other foreign intelligence agencies” could not be taken into account “for the lack of jurisdiction” in the tribal belt.

Instead, it recommended the evidence “be produced before the relevant concerned court for further proceedings under the law,” raising the prospect that Dr Afridi could yet face another trial for treason.

Dr Afridi’s sentencing was met by anger in the United States where the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to cut aid to Pakistan by a symbolic $33 million.

In January, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed that Afridi had worked for US intelligence by collecting DNA to verify Bin Laden’s presence in the town of Abbottabad where Navy SEALs killed the al Qaeda leader in May 2011.

But the court order said Afridi had “close links” to Lashkar-e-Islam, saying the doctor’s “love” for the group’s leader Mangal Bagh “and association with him was an open secret.”

It said the accused provided two million rupees ($22,000) to Lashkar-e-Islam and helped to provide medical assistance to militant commanders in Khyber.

Officials in Afridi’s home district of Khyber refused to elaborate. Mutahir Zeb Khan, the top administrator, said only: “Reasons given in the judgement are very clear and that’s it.”

On Tuesday, doctor Fuwad Khan, director general of health services in the tribal belt, refuted a smear campaign that Afridi was corrupt and a womaniser.

“There was no complaint against him on the record so no inquiry has ever been conducted as per the official record,” he told AFP.]]>
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			<title>NGO seeks Dr Afridi’s power of attorney</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386074/ngo-seeks-dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-power-of-attorney</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/386074/ngo-seeks-dr-afridi%e2%80%99s-power-of-attorney#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 30 May 12 04:39:13 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[umer.farooq]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=386074</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[US officials call 2002 inquiry report findings ‘character assassination’.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[A legal, non-governmental organisation submitted an application at the Peshawar central prison on Tuesday, seeking the power of attorney for Dr Shakil Afridi in the appeal against his conviction.


Dr Afridi was charged with treason and sentenced to 33 years in jail by the Khyber Agency political administration for his role in helping the CIA track down al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

“This is his right. There are illegalities and irregularities in the verdict announced against Dr Afridi,” said Sartaj Ahmad, chairman of the Legal Aid Welfare Organisation.

“We are not bothered about the verdict announced, but about the procedure adopted for the case,” Ahmad said, adding that the doctor should be tried according to the law.

Ahmad said his organisation would provide free legal aid to Dr Afridi in his appeal.

‘Character assassination’

As reports of a 2002 Pakistani health department inquiry – declaring Dr Afridi corrupt, unreliable and unfit for government service – surfaced, US officials on Monday called the accusations character assassination.

In Washington, one senior official said the US government was unaware of any questionable behaviour by Dr Afridi.

“Available information showed Dr Afridi was a respected member of the Pakistani health care community,” said the senior official.

The Afridi family’s lawyer declined to be drawn on the controversy. “I cannot comment on any past allegations against him,” Raza Safi told Reuters. (With additional input from Reuters)

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2012.]]>
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