Preempting reaction: Panetta’s interview ‘old’, insists US mission

CIA-backed doctor remains ‘suspended, not ‘terminated,’ says K-P health secretary.

ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR:

In an effort to preempt any outrage, the US Embassy in Islamabad issued a statement on Sunday countering Defence Secretary Leon Panetta’s statement about Pakistani officials being aware of Osama bin Laden’s hideout.

Defence Department spokesman George Little said that Panetta’s interview aired by CBS was old and was recorded at the time when the Defence Ministry was unsure whether the Bin Laden network was present in Pakistan or not.

In an interview with CBS’s programme 60 Minutes, aired on Sunday, Panetta said that he still believed someone in authority in Pakistan knew where Bin Laden was hiding before US forces went in to find him.

Intelligence reports found that Pakistani military helicopters had passed over the compound in Abbottabad, he added in the interview.

Little, in his clarification, further said that Panetta, in the same interview, had also said that there was no proof that Pakistani government and the higher authorities were aware of Bin Laden’s whereabouts.

He added that Panetta, along with other officials, are working for the betterment of ties with Pakistan that were strained after the US operation in Abbottabad that killed al Qaeda chief Bin Laden on May 2.

An American diplomat has also hinted at some ‘positive’ movement in relations with Pakistan in coming weeks.

The prompt clarification is an attempt by the Obama administration not to create further misgivings in Pakistan and “spoil the good work the two countries have done recently to sort out differences,” the diplomat said.

Doctor not yet terminated

The CIA-backed doctor, about whom Panetta had expressed concerns about in the same interview, has reportedly not yet been ‘terminated.’

Dr Shakeel Afridi, who allegedly provided vital information to the US for hunting down Bin Laden, remains ‘suspended’ from his duty, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Afridi, who was serving as agency surgeon in Khyber tribal belt, was already involved in a departmental inquiry on ‘harassment,’ later challenged in the court by him.

Afridi, for now, remains ‘suspended’ from his duty, said the provincial health secretary Mohmmad Ashfaq.

“We have taken this action against him by the report of the FATA secretariat. However, we are still waiting for the Abbottabad Commission and the courts to decide his conviction,” Ashfaq said.

Meanwhile, sources close to Afridi’s family said that “not much has been heard from them since the issue was brought to the limelight.”

The family had to shift to another province because of the pressure, they added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 30^th, 2012.