Ironically, jirga has no constitutional oversight so on what grounds is Foreign Office demanding respect for verdict?
PASADENA, MD, US: This is with reference to your report of May 25 titled “US should respect decision to imprison Dr Afridi”. The Foreign Office is being rather economical with the truth. The fact of the matter is that Dr Shakil Afridi’s trial was not conducted under Pakistan’s own laws in that he was not allowed access to a lawyer and his case was heard not by a court but by a jirga constituted by the government. Ironically, the jirga system has no constitutional oversight so on what grounds is the Foreign Office demanding respect for a verdict, which is clearly not the outcome of a free and fair trial?
Imran Haider
Published in The Express Tribune, May 26th, 2012.
