The suspended people include a medical officer and some lady health workers. Details of the names' list is being kept secret, according to the Express News correspondent.
Last year, British newspaper The Guardian reported that the CIA launched a fake vaccination drive in Abbottabad to gather the DNA information of Bin Laden’s family. It said that Khyber Agency Surgeon Dr Afridi, under the pretext of a private polio vaccination campaign, launched a CIA programme to trace the al Qaeda leader in Abbottabad.
Action was initiated against him and some other provincial health department officials for running a fake polio vaccine campaign.
COMMENTS (46)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1732259077-0/carti-(1)1732259077-0-165x106.webp "article")
1733421998-0/New-Project-(1)1733421998-0-270x192.webp "gwadar airport declared as int l airport")
Why does the government not suspend the so called educated lawyers that banned Shezaan and have made us a laughing stock in the world?
Aren't many of the posts here making an assumption that the good doctor knew that 1) he was working for the cia 2) OBL was the person that his handlers suspected was in the building. I think that at best, the doctor agreed to get some blood or DNA samples from a bunch of houses in that area. If you were the cia after such a high value quarry, you wouldn't reveal more than you would need to and you would tell the doctor zilch
Can anybody tell me why these people are being targeted? Do the authorities even know what message they are sending to the world by persecuting these people? They should be awarded medals !! This is beyond ridiculous. Hard to believe the lack of intellect.
These people have hurt Pakistan's core interests. Pakistani government must make examples of all of them.
Lets use an analogy of "father & son" stand-off in a family set-up here: One day a rich businessman asks his young neighbor a favor for catching a violent robber who had jumped over his wall. Here this young man without asking his father(who is negligent toward the family considered a bully & corrupt by others) secretly handed over the man to the neighbor. Why he didn't ask or wake his parents? Possibly he was tired of his past actions in such occasions & also in many other occasions when his parents sold or handed over(without even asking him or the family) his beloved brothers, sisters & pets for corrections, beating & more(sometimes resulting in their death) to the same neighbor. It's not as simple as it looks. Final outcome of Corruption usually ends in Total Destruction of a family, team, shop, land or culture. Stop "corruption" anywhere you see__ in any form, shape or size! Let the stake-holder: The "Pak Citizen Conscience" be the Judge here.
@stenson: feel free to try.
To answer your question, Dr. Afridi acted in the BEST INTERESTS OF PAKISTAN. Pakistanis who would consider themselves as Pakistanis first Muslims next will agree. Muslims who believe in and / or practice true islam will agree. Those who claim to be Muslims first and Pakistani next will not agree.
The simple question, whether Dr Afridi acted in Pakistani interests or against .This should be answered truthfully. readers too.
Pakistan should support Dr Afridi and anounce a suitable award. This way, majority of pakistanis who are not militants will get a boost to their ego. Otherwise they will further be alienated by minority militants and the world will further percieve pakistan as a terrorist state.
By taking all these punitive measures against people who helped nab Osama, Pakistan is broadcasting to the world that it considered OBL as an invaluable asset. They should be awarding medals to these individuals. That will show the world that Pakistan is indeed serious in weeding out those Islamists.
@Ahsan: After saying lets not confuse the issue that is what you exactly did. You tried to shift the goalpost while losing. We are talking about the specific case of Dr Afridi and his crime,not some hypothetical scenario. Pakistan claimed OBL was not in Pakistan and Dr Afridi knew it was untrue. He believed that harboring the Worlds most wanted terrorist was not in the interest of his country or its people. Those sheltering him wanted to continue milking World Powers by using OBL as a golden goose. Dr Afridi is an inspiration because he proved to the World that all of Pakistan is not radicalised and wedded to ideology, a very few are rational, logical beings with human values. As long as people like Dr Afridi live in Pakistan, the country has hope.
why not give Bin Laden Pakistan Highest Civilian and Military Awards and do away with this whole painful drama?????
@Pakistan politics: Baluchistan aside, you're wrong about the doctor. Pakistan treating him the way they are is far more traitorous to the world than what he did to Pakistan. He helped Pakistan's supposed cause as well as the US and NATO. We help people who actually help us. Politics and circumstances may keep people from being blunt though that doesn't mean it's not obvious to everyone you're just a big bunch of liars who will betray just about anyone, including each other, no matter how many times you're found out and look foolish. This man is a shining example of Pakistan's real face towards extremism. You're always attempting to jail everyone but the extremists.
@Amjad: What will you say when Afridi becomes a US citizen and then spies of foreign governments to conduct raids on US soil ? Will you still support this type of behaviour? We all know OBL was a criminal- we are debating whether a citizen can work with foreign agencies over his own law enforcement. Sad that people cannot understand this principle in the land of the pure. Maybe you should go abroad and try this behaviour and see how you are treated.
@Ahsan: I can see your point. I would feel the same if I were a Pakistani who loves the institutions of the State. Let me eave you with another point to ponder. The government and Army have often said that they would convert a disadvantage to an opportunity. Here was an unwanted situation that could have been converted to an advantage. Had just Pakistan expressed happiness for the elimination of OBL and cheered it, it would have been a totally a different situation. It would have changed the thinking of the Pakistanis and also that of the world. This is exactly what Zardari tried to do by writing about it in the US newspaper and claiming credit. At the least Afridi should have been left alone and ignored or at the most given a private warning. Why anyone should assume Afridi discovered OBL? He could have been used just to confirm that it was in fact OBL.
Doctors and health works as profession are used for spying inside other country...
Shame is small word for invaders...
Afridi is a benfactor not a traitor, but who cares in this land of pure!
And you wonder why Pakistan is perceived as a nation that supports terrorism? You stand accused of hiding the most wanted terrorist on the planet and your response is to punish those who exposed your duplicity. An honorable country would have apologized and identified and punished those who had helped OBL.
@Raj-USA...... Agreed that agencies of various countries need to cooperate and do cooperate as well.......however, CIA has "violated" this protocol as well by "recruiting" Afridi & Co. for this job.....my point is that this should have been done through the Pakistani agencies and Afridi should have provided the information to his government rather than working for CIA directly......I am not disputing the "cause" here, only that if a citizen of a country collaborates with a foreign spy agency, for whatever cause, good or bad, this tantamounts to treason as you are defying your own state and its organs.......and I don't buy the argument that the state was "hiding OBL" for any reason....OBL was a dead horse and a "liability" for everyone including the CIA who created him in the first place and no one here would have taken such a risk for which there was no foreseeable benefit.
Mir, Your logic is totally wrong!
@Qasim: Maybe the US should give citizenship to every foreign national of every country that supplies them information and not to their own countries. This way they can teach all people of the workd that they should only be loyal to the US and not to their own countries and laws. If Dr. Afridi is rewarded for serving a foreign government to conduct secret operations on its soil, it sets a bad example. Dr. Afridi should have given the information to Pakistani intelligence who then should have conducted a joint operation to hunt down OBL. What will Pakistan do when citizens now serve every other foreign country from Russia to India to Britain to conduct secret operations on Pakistani soil? Does the antion not see the long term danger of letting citizens betray their own country? What would the US do if a US citizen was helping a foreign nation- that too a supposed ally- conduct a secret operation on US soil without US knowledge? Would US be happy when the foreign nation rewards this type of behaviour?
@Ahsan:
"I don’t have any sympathies for OBL, but Dr. Afridi’s crime is that he and his team conspired with a foreign spy agency “CIA”……..lets not confuse the issue……If tomorrow, someone else conspires with RAW or Mossad to leak secret information about the nuclear assets, will anyone have any doubts over whether such person should be tried for treason or hailed as a noble?"
You are totally confused. First of all, was hiding OBL a State Secret. Your argument infers this.
You also fail to understand that intelligence agencies throughout the world cooperate for good cause. Even ISI (according to Gen. Pasha) has provided information to RAW just last year regarding some planned terrorist activities by Pakistan based organizations. It is the cause that matters.
All these traitors should be tried in accordance with the law of the land & punished .
@Basit:
The CIA health campaign was organized and run secretly and did not cause any damage until its lid was blown off by ISI. However, you are silent on the open campaign against Polio vaccinations regularly preached in mass rallies by the uneducated mullas. It is these campaigns by mullas that have and are still causing the real damage.
first we here from you people that Bin Laden was not killed in abottabad its all US, Israel and India's conspiracy. When he is not killed there and its all drama than what kind of information passed by this poor fellow. its all confusing
Suspension ….. !!! Whether it is on instruction of Army or ISI or of both …… ????
By prosecuting the doctor and others for locating the world's most wanted fugitive, the state is committing a harakiri of indirect admission that it had delibrately kept OBL under its protection and those who dared to expose this well kept secret are considered culprits.
I don't have any sympathies for OBL, but Dr. Afridi's crime is that he and his team conspired with a foreign spy agency "CIA"........lets not confuse the issue......If tomorrow, someone else conspires with RAW or Mossad to leak secret information about the nuclear assets, will anyone have any doubts over whether such person should be tried for treason or hailed as a noble?
Has anyone given it a thought that the main deal broker/decision maker "in, out or about" Pakistan sits in Jeddah and not in Islamabad. This was a "foreign war" fought in Pakistan(who has become a world play ground of many activities for few buck or favors) from the day one. How can Taliban claim they are successful when they lost everybody except still a trickle of oil funding, which now will be awarded to new players of religious parties who can unite the extremists & can howl louder against U.S. Aid & Assistance for growth & development. You see! these parties have less appeal in educated & thriving culture, so they never clearly talk about economy & education or any need of such goals for defending Pakistan. Now, running a fake doctor visit to find a hiding criminal is age old practice around the world. Involved Pak agencies are already taken a hit or ten from all corners & now are in a corner themselves, possibly deciding it's better to get orders from democratic gov't than from army.
With the same logic than people who helped OBL live comfortably in Pakistan should be rewarded with the highest honor of the country. I am sure the list for such an award will be very long and an eye opener.
Everything in my beloved country has become rouge and the one who should be heroes are traitors and the one who spent all their energies in the animosity in creation of Pakistan are considered patriots.
Dr. Afridi should be rewarded by government of Pakistan also since he apprehended number one terrorist of the world. What is the difference in apprehending Khalid Omar, the master mind of 9/11 & OBL? We surely are very confused nation!
... Pakistan has permanent interests in the region and has been dealing with these effectively for along time ... obviously, when it pursues its national interests ... it gets hit also, and there is spruce to pay ...
... so allies and friends are not permanent ... in the region Pakistan holds many keys, and it is not about to let its intesrests run roughshod by anyone ... even Frienemies ...
... so, no need to worry about the pseudo-imperialist posturing of a Dying World Power ... or of Shoddy India ...
Why not spend some effort and track down the people who helped hide OBL for 5+ years - have you no shame?
Those who use a health campaign to spy for CIA are the most despicable human beings. Today it may be OBL, but tomorrow it will be anyone that the US declares as enemy. These so called "health workers" have discredited all health campaigns for the nest few decades.
Lock them up now!
PakistaniPolitics@ you are sleeping. You should have read the Defence Minister of Pakistan that NATO supplies are already flowing towards Kabul. The land rout is about to open provided the NATO agree to the few thousand of extra surchage....
Poor people became collateral damage due to ISI - CIA war of terror
Running with the hares and hunting with the hounds has been the Pakistani Agencies well developed strategy for quite sometime. The only thing that they don't understand is that realities in the international space tend to evolve and one needs to also revamp and also evolve their own strategies.
Since majority of Pakistanis consider Mr. Bin Laden their spiritual leader, it is unimaginable that one who helped his arrest would be treated with mercy.
And as far as US is concerned, they are least interested in getting this person out. Poor guy would surely lose his life.
So people who have helped kill a Terrorist(unknowingly of course) have to suffer, but people who sheltered the mass murderer go free?
Is that how it works in Pakistan?
Bravo..!! If you help track down the "WORLD'S MOST WANTED TERRORIST" then instead of getting some kind of reward, you are actually treated as a criminal... a traitor... a big LOL at our authorities..
Vienna,February 19,2012 The Pakistani troika establishment is backing the dead Osama Bin Laden evidencing the U.S.conviction of Pakistani duplicity. It has far reaching implications.You may boil to whichever high point of temperature on Baluchistan, the U.S. is not going to discard the issue as a bargaining chip in the minimum. If it goes punitive U.S. can sponsor and get passed a United Nations resolution endorsing the Baluch right for self determination. That could be a strategic set back instead of assets accumulation. Taravadu Taranga Trust for Media Monitoring TTTMM India --Kulamarva Balakrishna
US wont grant him citizenship and Baluchistan bill will not be passed to, they are just pressing us for resuming NATO supply's and to remain away from Iran
Now will US grant citizenship to all or just the gang leader?