Abbottabad commission: ‘CIA doctor’ faces treason charge
Dr Shakeel Afridi, a public servant of the health department of Fata, is accused of running a fictitious test campaign in Abbottabad in order to conclusively determine the biological kinship of Osama’s children to confirm his presence in the compound.
It was widely reported that the US had been lobbying for his release, which included a call from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to President Asif Ali Zardari. According to media reports, the president turned down the request.
“In view of the record and evidence … the commission is of the view that prima facie, a case of conspiracy against the state of Pakistan and high treason is made out against him,” said the statement.
“A case under relevant law should be registered.”
In regards to Osama’s family – in Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) custody since the operation – the commission lifted travel restrictions after recording their statements. The ISI had taken custody of Bin Laden’s widows, two Saudis and one Yemeni, and around 10 of their children after the May 2 operation and the commission had barred authorities from handing them over to any other country without its permission.
(Read: Abbottabad commission questions Bin Laden widows, daughters)
During the past few days, the commission also summoned ISI officials, including its chief Lt Gen Shuja Pasha. The commission said that it conducted “an exhaustive interview” of Pasha to understand his views.
Chairman of the commission Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal also ordered the handing over of the Osama compound to the district administration “for disposal in accordance with relevant law.”
The compound where Osama and his family lived, some reports suggesting for around 5 years, was sealed by military authorities. According to records, it was owned by a man registered with an address of a city in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but investigations revealed he used a fake identity card.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 7th, 2011.
COMMENTS (41)
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This Doctor managed fake vaccination campaign in Abbotabad. Are the children of people of abbotabad not Human?? Where are Human Rights activists?? Why don't they speak against this doctor? I wish and pray that it does not happen and it did not happen. But if some innocent child dies as a result of that fake vaccination, then this doctor should not be punished? Then this doctor should not face the charges of capital punishment??
@AAB:
the statements of the wives of OBL not enough for you?
The wives and the children of OBL are still in Pakistan, and you can ask your favorite TV anchors to interview them !
@ my Pakistani friends who are disgruntled We are not here to analyze and defend OBL's life. The point in discussion is whether a Pakistani like the doctor can be tried under treason and what i shared is that yes under the circumstances that we know of, he can and must be tried for treason !!!
the laest news according to another pak newspaper, Dawn, along with other western newspapers is that this doctor died of "stroke".. how convenient for the spy agency of pak.
The findings of the commission in calling this doctor a traitor is proof that osama was one of their agents and his loss was too much for them to bear. Surely the doctor should be praised for finding the terrorist. Pakistani mentality is very low. First they deny anything to do with terrorists and then punish anyone who helps find one. Shame on you PAKISTAN.
By the way I am a pakistani and ashamed!!
The doctor knew he was working for the CIA in Pakistan.
The doctor is a Traitor.
Traitors must be executed.
A person who betrays (or is accused of betraying) their country should be sentenced to death
A Traitor Is A Traitor No Ifs No But
Was the doctor acting alone or there was connivance with the provincial health department and EDO Health Abbottabad. Anyway negligency of hEALTH DEPARTMENT and security agencies cannot be ruled out.They have brought the nation to discredict.The answer must be found.
Rose Petals for Salman Taseer's murderer and Cactus thorns for the CIA doctor?
Doctor should be charged and tried as per Pakistani law!!
@Amer @BruteForce @Sami
The founding purpose of the Abbottabad commission is to investigate 'how OBL came here, how he manage to live for 5 years without getting noticed, who helped him to settle here'. But the commission is working on lines of 'how he got found, who helped americans to found'. That’s why, the whole world is surprised about the progress and its outcomes. 'Who are pakistan's traitor' is certainly not the motive of the commission. For that you can have different enquiry, but not this one.
i am surprised, shocked and lost the hope for pakistan.
Doctor should had collaborated with Pakistani Govt then US Govt regardless of OBL factor.Period! If he wanted to expose OBL than he could had done it through Pakistani or international media so that Pakistani authorities would had bounded to apprehend to OBL.
@my friends defending the doctor Law follows the constitution and as per the constitution, any Pakistani helping a foreign country or agency without the knowledge can be tried under treason. So, the Doctor is tried under the right law, 2. then it is up to the relevant court to decide the severity of the issue and they can take a decision accordingly. So, the treason case is very much required and two it is up to the legal system, the way the case is presented and the political implications. If we consider all these, then it is a right decision from the security perspective of the country as he helped foreign forces to come into the country and undertake the operation.
I thought the OBL operation was a fake! If it was fake why is this Doctor being punished? All he did was distribute polio drops to children.
He helped. unknowingly, to kill a dreaded Terrorist. Dont you think the image of Pakistan will be further ruined if he is tried for treason?
He isn’t good doctor, but a traitor who was working with foreign intelligence agencies against interest of his own country. He deserve what is coming to him.
agreed There are lots of people in who are working for US as an agent specially pakistani upper class.
@Doctor:
He isn't good doctor, but a traitor who was working with foreign intelligence agencies against interest of his own country. He deserve what is coming to him.
If he was working with foreign intelligence w/o approval from the govt he deserves to be charged and hanged. That is treason & the US will do the same (check out what the US did to Bradly Manning). If he knew about OBL & did not informed proper authorities he still needs to be held accountable for his crimes, and to mention the fact that he put all those children in danger in the name of vaccination.
It amazes me from the comments above that people expects PAK to release a guy who collaborated with a forgein Agency. Whether he apprehended a terrorist or not doesn't matter. What matters is that the CIA infiltrated deep inside pakistan posing a security risk to PAK. PAK did what any other country would do to safeguard its interest. Why does americans expect every nation should give in to US interest . would US & India do the same if one of their citizens helped the ISI to track down a suspected BLA terrorist deep inside india or US. Americans are the most hypocritical and arrogant people on earth.
Will any other country like forign agents working on it's soil? Why such a surprise in western media?
If the poor doctor is termed a traitor, then every single Pakistani soldier and policeman who are fighting against the terrorists have to be called traitors.
hope seems to be trikling down....god save pak from these maniachs who are dangerous to the whole world
This doctor's actions resulted in US killing Osama. Is Pakistan admitting that killing Osama was against Pakistan's national interests?
What a shame on for Pakistan. Dr Afridi was doing a noble thing to assist a in apprehending a mass murderer (in line with GOP objectives).
It is good that one Doctor dies. It will save the Job of many.
Why the selective leaks? What OBL's wives confess?
There is a huge time gap as per media. Perhaps the Doctor entered at last stages or he may not be a Doctor at all!
Brilliant.Pakistan never stops amazing the world at large.
How can a person who helped OBL get caught be regarded as a traitor to Pakistan which is also fighting Al Qaeda in the war on terror? Am I missing something?
If this turns out to be the results of this investigation, the PAK is lost forever. It truly will have become a failed nation.
Is this commision formed by Al-Quaida?
The only Pakistani that did anything positive in tracking down OBL apparently committed the unpardonable sin of exposing/embarrassing Pakistan. . Pakistan has gone out of it's way to track down anyone who might have helped discover the location of OBL - but has done little (if anything) to determine who was helping OBL. You don't live 5+ years inside a fortified mansion that is shouting distance from the Pakistan Military Academy without assistance from powerful people. . It's become clear that this Commission is a sham -- members started to pronounce their conclusions before they had interviewed anyone - even the head of the Commission indicated that the report was almost finished before they had even interviewed the ISI. . This Commission had a chance to redeem Pakistan's tarnished international reputation - unfortunately it's going to reinforce that poor image.
Shouldn't OBL tried posthumously for ruining pakistan's and its expatriate's image globally? or for the global and internal humiliation faced by the khakis and ISI becuase of OBL hiding/hidden in Abottabad? NOOOOOOOOOOO...lets balme the US and its agent. do khakis think pakistanis are stupid?
"a case of conspiracy against the state of Pakistan and high treason is made out against him,”
What about the persons who actually kept OBL in the compound.?
Why the enquiry is not focused on how OBL came to live in the compound in PAK soil but it is focused on identifying how US came to Abbottabad?
Yes, how befitting! And who is going to uncover the traitors who helped him settle in in Abottabad, and brought about a national embarrassment? This commission is obsessed with how the US got in, fine, but what was OBL doing there to begin with?
Poor doctor.
Why no treason case Against ISI chief & Army chief ? Who not only FAILED to discover that OBL was near Kakul Academy But also failed to respond to that mini invasion by US choppers ?