The fact of the matter is that Dr Afridi’s sentence on the charge of treason has already attracted international condemnation and is further going to complicate things for Pakistan because the rest of the world will use it to question its sincerity in fighting terrorism and extremism. Two senior American lawmakers, Senators John McCain and Carl Levin, have, in a joint statement, said that the sentence is the “furthest thing” from treason because Dr Afridi helped get rid of a man who had “the blood of thousands of Pakistanis on his hands”.
Whatever one makes of the issue, the fact is that Dr Afridi’s punishment sends a clear message to the world at large: that his help in locating Osama was seen by the Pakistan state as an act of treason. It also sends a strong message to others like Afridi: close your eyes and your mouths if you know the location of other terrorists or else you will also be tried for crimes against the state.
The news of the sentencing has generated considerable debate on social media forums and this is reflective of the divisions that exist in Pakistani society. Many saw what Dr Afridi has done as something heroic and courageous, saying that he had actually acted with patriotism because he helped rid Pakistan of a terrorist and in the process weakened al Qaeda and its affiliates. In the past decade or so, these terrorist outfits have killed thousands of Pakistanis — including women and children — and have had no qualms targeting markets, mosques, funeral congregations, jirgas and other public places.
But there are others who consider Dr Afridi a traitor for his role in helping the Americans eliminate Osama. In this camp fall our various religio-political parties, militant organisations, the military establishment and its sympathisers and of course the ghairat brigade.
Regardless of whether Dr Afridi is a hero or a traitor, some important technical and legal questions arise regarding the charge of treason levelled against him and the holding of his trial through an official jirga under the FCR. He has been accused of “waging war against the state” and of “concealing a plan to wage war against the state”. The truth of the matter is that the doctor’s actions do not appear to fall under the definition of treason by any stretch of imagination. Other than that, the alleged crime of treason was committed in Abbottabad and not in Khyber Agency. So, how can the assistant political agent (who sentenced him) try the doctor for a crime allegedly committed in a settled area?
Furthermore, the Constitution guarantees the rights of the accused, even those who commit treason, and also guarantees them the right to a free and fair trial with access to a lawyer. To make things even worse, the trial by an official jirga under the FCR means that Clause 7 of Article 247 comes into effect and this bars the jurisdiction of the Peshawar High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan from hearing appeals on his case.
Many like me are simply unable to digest the fact that those involved in the targeted lynching of Ahmadis, Christians and Shias and indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians get away with their crimes because of “lack of evidence”. And those like Dr Afridi, who assist in getting rid of the world’s most dreaded terrorist are swiftly tried and punished — 33 years in prison!
Published in The Express Tribune, May 25th, 2012.
COMMENTS (40)
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This episode of Dr Afridi is so wrong at so many different levels. Even if we ignore everything else, and admit that he indeed is guilty of treason on account of spying "againt Pakistan" (which is another can of worms by itself) are we not suggesting that the whole anti-polio campaing is a cover for some CIA opperation ?
Dr. Afridi is a Muslim and a Muslim cannot be wrong. Free this Muslim in a country created for Muslims.
@Pak Tester: Dear Pak Tester, With friends like America who needs enemies? Over the the last 70 years or so they have gone rampaging around the world inventing isms. You know, fascism, communism, terrorism, Muslimism. We can only guess what the next ism will be, but it will not be nice. Unfortunately, when Americans invent an ism they finish up killing a lot of people, and produce an incredible amount of propaganda to convince weak minded people that they are doing a good job. So what have they accomplished? The U.S. is still occupying Japan, Korea and Germany, but pretend they are not. They are still occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, but pretend they are not. They are using Pakistan as a plaything but pretend they are not and are merely helping Pakistanis . The Pakistan Government thought they were helping America, but realize they are in over their heads. So far America has killed millions of people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but pretend their brave boys in uniform are only trying to protect the world from terrorism. There is insufficient room in this article to list all the mischief America has got up to over the last fifty years or so, but a few things come to mind such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Grenada, Yemen, Libya, and Syria, where millions of people who should be alive are now dead.
Let us see what punishment Bradley Manning gets? If Dr Afridi was doing the "right thing" - any US citizen can start working for say China or Iran for doing the "right things".
@kaalchakra So you do consider America as your powerful and strongest enemy. But, I beg your pardon sir, the Pakistani govt doesn't think so. It thinks them as an ally in the war against terrorism. Thus, what you are saying is simply something against the govt's position, eventually being a traitor yourself. Think dear.
Let us say he is a tainted hero.
Shakeel Afridi gets imprisoned for life for assisting in the killing of OBL, something which our own Govt wants to share the credit for after the embarrassment of May 2011.
Yet they allow the most vile criminals like Malik Ishaq Jhangvi and the Lal Masjid brigade to be released from jail without charge?
He should have gotten the death penalty.
I have enough common sense to know that if I acted as an intelligence agent for a foreign power, without my governments approval, I would go to jail for a very long time. Perhaps Dr. Afridi did what he thought was right, but Guantanamo Bay, and Pakistan prisons are full of prisoners who thought the same way. I would go so far as to say that if Dr. Afridi was an American citizen 33 years in prison would be the least of his problems. For example, Dr. Aafi Siddique was not charged with any offence prior to her arrest in Pakistan, but she was given 88 years prison time by an American court. Thus, if one goes by American criteria I would say that Pakistan has treated Dr. Afridi reasonably well. Almost 260 per cent better. I am surprised that Professor Zubair has written such an ill considered, inaccurate, and emotive missive. Looking at the problem from a completely different point-of-view perhaps jail time is a better option for the good Doctor. If he did bring Osama bin Laden to book, which is doubtful, there would be many people in Pakistan wishing to punish him in a manner which I would not like to contemplate.
For it to be treason, he would of had to be acting against the Pakistani government or people. If helping find Bin Ladin was a crime, then it was official government policy to protect Bin Ladin. That then makes those who prosecuted him to be accomplishes in Bin Ladins mass murder (it the same reasoning where someone who drive a getaway car his charged with murder if someone is killed in a bank holdup).
If, Dr Afridi is a traitor for helping identify the Shaikh.
Then, What are those who facilitated the raid by turning off the RADARs?
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.
@mrk: Does the law permit Swiss bank accounts ?
@Shan Nasir:
Why? The military already knew, OBL was living a stone throw from Kakul Academy! Why is Abottabad called military garrison? Because, there is significant military and ISI presence. Understand your willingness suspend reality but rest of the world is not prepared to do so!
@kaalchakra:
Hard work, would that be nurturing terrorists who kills and maims your own people? Or is the handwork supporting and nurturing the Haquanni’s and other tribal warlords waging war against Afghanistan, which one is it?
What is really funny is that Pakistan claims OBL entered and stayed in Pakistan illegally. Imprisoned his 3 wives for a short period for that reason. Now Pakistan is calling the doctor traitor. Does it mean OBL had Pakistani Citizenship? Was the state helping OBL? World knows OBL was the Golden Goose for Musharaff and helped him amass billions.
How does one become traitor for helping take out an international criminal staying in the country for several years illegally? Is there a logic somewhere in it?
Dr Afridi is Hero. He did what could not be done by NATO and Allies. This is rubbish that a man who helped in searching a terrorist is being punished. The question is: Are we with Osama the terrorist or Afridi the man the Hero? Simple is the people who are against afridi are basically helpers/followers of Osama. Shame on us.
@Muqarrib: Pakistani agencies?? Do you have faith in these agencies? Patriotism acts like a blindfold for many people.
The point is not whether dr afridi helped catch Osama, but whether he was working for another nation's spy agency. If it weren't pakistan, would he not be charged with treason? Can you just recruit someone, and that too a medical doctor getting his salary from the government's purse, to work for a foreign spy agency? If you want to throw law and justice out the window, then that's fine and you can set that precedence. However, if law is to be followed, then he needs to be convicted. Otherwise, do whatever you like as laws are meant to be broken in Pak anyways. But then make sure that you don't tell that they broke the laws if it's that you disagree with.
@Xami Dada:
Incidentally,Mir Jafar's great-grandson Iskandar Mirza, was appointed and served as the first President of Pakistan.
Really, this put countless questions in the minds of common people of Pakistan and World that If Pakistan is against terrorism and against Al-Qaida... They also congratulate the US President and rest of world leaders over killing of world no.1 terrorist, then why they Punish Dr. Afridi? Secondly, Lets assume that he committed a crime, but why case was launched against so called Jirga and FCR... Why not in the court of settled areas............? The establishment of Pakistan is once again making people fool....
its not a matter of bin laden, its a matter of collaboration with a foreign agency which is a crime in any country of the world. imagine his network. he knew CIA people in Pakistan who were probably working under cover of NGOs. Why US always at odds with Pakistan or any country in the world who talks about generally accepted international laws? how will US react to a double agent of MI5? offer him tea and arrange flight back home?? btw, US convicted Jonathan Pollard for spying its beloved israel.
@Shan Nasir:Raid your own refugee ?
shame on pakistani government and establishment who declared a Pashton hero as a traitor.If someone from other part of pakistan would help in finding a bin-laden so he would have given awards but it is only Pashtons who are declared traitors and terrorists here.shame-shame-shame pro-terrorists paki-establishment.
Whoever makes the foreign policies in Pakistan is one funny guy
Dr. Afridi committed the crime of unmasking the protectors of OBL. This crime against the deep state cannot be forgiven. It was like taking the food out of the mouth of a lion. This act destroyed Pakistan's duplicity policy and exposed them to the world for good. If it were not the US pressure Dr. Afridi and his family would have disappeared like so many others.
This conviction of the good doc proves that Pakistan is not only the epicentre and supporter of terrorism, but Pak itself is a terrorist state. The missing persons of Balochistan will vouch for this stmt.
" close your eyes and your mouths if you know the location of other terrorists or else you will also be tried for crimes against the state" DO NOT MESS WITH THE BOSS .
@kaalchakra:
You have a point. By imprisoning Dr Afridi, Pakistan has given a clear signal that it does not want any citizen to share the "protected information" about Aiman Jawahiri, another terrorists living perhaps somewhere in Pakistan.
Pakistan army does not want others to collect million dollars in booty on the heads of terrorists living in Pakistan; the army collected in the past and is still thinking to collect in future too.
“It also sends a strong message to others like Afridi: close your eyes and your mouths if you know the location of other terrorists or else you will also be tried for crimes against the state.”
No Sir, the message is if you know any anti state elements or internationally wanted persons contact national authorities and let them know the details. As a professor of law, you should know that one is never to bypass the authorities of his country and secretly and directly deal and conspire with a foreign power. From every point of view, what Dr. Afridi did is unacceptable.
Dr Afridi should have approached Pakistan's military. It is a clear act of treason. Sentence is well deserved. The raid should have been carried out by Pakistani military, not the American Navy seals.
@Zaheer:
Very good point! The Government and Military has already said that OBL was captured with their help and their prior knowledge. Dr. Afridi too has been intrumental for helping capture OBL. So both are on the same side in this whole episode.
So why should only Afridi be sentenced for 33 years? Shouldnot everyone in Government and Military who claimed they helped capture OBL also be tried and sentenced?
if he was doing such a GREAT WORK then why he took Money from a foreign intelligence agency? did he even know that hes taking blood samples of Bin Ladin family ? if CIA didn't share intelligence with Pakistan how it is possible they could have shared the intelligence with Dr Shakil? Fact is Dr Shakil took money from foreign intelligence agency , launched a fake vaccination scheme.
"A hero or a traitor?" A traitor of course, disgusting how some Pakistanis are trying to defend this guy.
As with the Dreyfus Affair, it isn't enough for Pakistan to release or pardon Dr. Afridi. He must be totally exonerated and the State must instead genuinely pursue those that shelter terrorists - the real traitors. Not for the sake of the U.S. but for the sake of Pakistan itself.
I am benining to consider the possibility that his trial under FCR was designed to be deliberately unlawful to please the mullah crowd and once that was done, his conviction will be challegend in the PAK SC and it will be overturned by the bench. All are happy. It is a wishful thinking and it may be true, if the PAK SC takes up the issue swiftly.
Dumb move on PAK to let this go this far.
This is a ridiculous article. Whatever problems Pakistan has are part of the criminal situation that exists in any country. What Dr Afridi did was to betray national interest, to negate the hard work of many years and many people - giving protected information to a dangerous and powerful enemy. This can never be excused and must never be repeated by any other Pakistan if Pakistan is to continue pursing its interests in the world.
Did he even know what he was doing? He could have just thought he was doing charity work, not compromising state security.
He needs to be heard as it will reveal how far this effort went. No one really believes that he knew he was part of the biggest secret operation the world ever saw, now do they?
Sadly this is exactly why no one abroad believes that we as a nation are willing fighters against terrorism. The government and army say that Osama was caught with their help. So how is Afridi's help seen differently? After all there was a huge amount of head money set by the Americans for info on Osama. We did not object to that. Afridi will have thought he was in line for a huge pay cheque. The government & ISI cannot claim credit for providing info to CIA leading to Osama and at the same time give another info provider 33 years behind bars. Above all, a fair trial cannot be denied in such a high profile case without getting massive negative publicity worldwide. If it was the US alone not believing us anymore, it would be different. We now have a united front of most developed countries vocally unhappy with our conduct. History tells us that kind of international disregard usually ends on a sad note.