Why charge Dr Shakil Afridi with treason?

Punishment for conviction of treason is the death penalty, this would be harsh given the individual he helped capture.

JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: Nations and countries decide their policies keeping in mind the national interest. In this regard, I would like to ask your readers, as well as those sitting in government and in other institutions deciding policy matters: how can Dr Shakil Afridi be accused of treason?

Will someone please tell me how helping catch the world’s most sought-after terrorist amount to betrayal of the state? Was Osama bin Laden not responsible for the deaths of several thousand people and have not al Qaeda and its affiliates created havoc inside Pakistan and killed thousands of innocent Pakistanis? There must be many Pakistanis who are angry with efforts by a Republic member of the US Congress to confer America’s highest civilian award to the doctor, who allegedly helped the Americans track Bin Laden in Abbottabad.

The punishment for conviction of treason is the death penalty. It seems, however, that this would be too harsh given the individual that Dr Afridi helped capture.

Masood Khan

Published in The Express Tribune, February 17^th, 2012.