Not aware of any deal regarding Dr Shakeel Afridi: FO

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Office has dismissed reports that Pakistan is swapping  Dr Shakeel Afridi with Aafia Siddiqui under a deal with the United States.

“I am not aware of any deal regarding Dr. Shakeel Afridi  ,” said Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad in his weekly media briefing. 

"The subject of the reported jail break is being dealt by Ministry of Interior," he said, referring to Russian media reports that CIA had plotted a failed jail break to free Afridi.

Afridi is accused of running a fake anti-polio vaccination campaign which helped the United States track down Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Days later, he was killed in a US military raid on Abbottabad compound in May 2011.

The then CIA director Leon Panetta and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton had also confirmed the doctor's role in eliminating Laden.

Afridi was arrested and put on trial. He was sentenced to 33 years for involvement in anti-state activities by a tribal court in 2012. 

He was recently reportedly shifted from Peshawar to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi due to security concerns. The move led to media speculations that Dr Afridi could be handed over to the US in exchange for Dr Aafia Siddiqui.