Pakistan moves closer to releasing imprisoned doctor
Pakistani official says that the doctor did not spy on Pakistan or violate official secrets, reports Guardian.
Pakistan moved closer to releasing an imprisoned doctor who had helped the CIA track Bin Laden after the country’s spy chief flew to the US to try to rescue intelligence ties between Washington and Islamabad, the Guardian reported.
The ISI chief, Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, flew to Washington on Wednesday to seek a patch up in relationship.
The official position towards Dr Shakil Afridi, the subject of weeks of negotiations between the countries, seemed to have softened as a senior Pakistani official said that he may not have known he was working for the CIA.
“If it is confirmed that [Afridi] did not deal with Americans and didn’t know he was working for the CIA, he didn’t break any laws,” the official said.
“He also did not spy on Pakistan or violate the official secrets act. So there may be no reason to charge him,” the official added.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 15th, 2011.