ISLAMABAD: All speculations were laid to rest on Thursday when the government denied and announced that imprisoned Dr Shakil Afridi of Osama Bin Laden fame would not be handed over to the United States.
“On behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I can assure you that he is not being handed over to the US”, spokesman at Foreign Office told the media. Of late, unconfirmed reports were circulating that Dr Shakil Afridi who cooperated with the CIA using Save the Children (an NGO) as a shield, would be transferred from a prison in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for security reasons after allegedly CIA tried to get Afridi out of prison or exchange him for a Pakistani prisoner Dr Aafia Siddiqui.
The government thought it wiser to shift Afridi to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi while not giving an explanation as to why this step was necessitated. “I have no knowledge regarding the matter. I am not aware of any deal regarding Dr Shakil Afridi. The subject of the reported jailbreak is being dealt by Ministry of Interior”, added the spokesman.
Presently Afridi is serving 10-year prison under the Frontier Crimes Regulation. However, the spokesman parried a question pointing to FIA DG saying in the Supreme Court that he had taken up the matter of Husain Haqqani’s repatriation with the Americans, but they said that Pakistan also had one of their people in custody.
Commenting, for the first time on the unprecedented move by Pakistan army to join the SCO Joint Anti-Terrorist Military Exercises together with India, the spokesman said that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) provides a useful forum for enhancing mutually beneficial cooperation among its member states.
“We are committed to playing a positive and constructive role in SCO. Pakistan opposes terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. The exercise “Peace Mission 2018” is being hosted by Russia under this agreement. We are prepared to share our experiences with other SCO member states and work together against this common enemy. We hope that SCO will provide an opportunity for both countries to interact for peace and security in the region. We have successfully tackled the menace of terrorism on our soil”, added the spokesman. On reports of the US government having a rethink about restricting Pakistani diplomats movements in Washington, the spokesman responded, ”On restrictions of movement of diplomats, discussions are going on. We will share when any information comes out. (On the recent killing of a Pakistani youth by a US diplomat) The two sides are in discussion and we hope to resolve this issue amicably.”
On the issue of harassment of Indian and Pakistani diplomats is concerned, the spokesman said, “(This) has been resolved through negotiations between foreign offices and diplomatic missions of the both the countries. It is a success of formal diplomacy.”
On the latest decision by Pakistan to release and repatriate an Indian prisoner Jetindaera Arjanwaran, the spokesman remarked, “Pakistan does not believe in politicising humanitarian issues and exploiting human sufferings for point scoring. Pakistan also released and repatriated an Indian prisoner today, who had completed his sentence in Pakistan, and was suffering from a debilitating blood disease. This step has been taken by the government purely on humanitarian basis.”
Jetindaera was apprehended by the Pakistani security agencies in 2014 under the Foreigners Act and was sentenced to a one-year imprisonment. “His sentence ended in July 2014, however, his national status was not confirmed by the Indian High Commission until April 4, 2018 (almost 3 years after availing Consular Access). Jetindaera’s case for the repatriation was favourably considered by Pakistan, due to his deteriorating medical condition and he was repatriated today”, added the spokesman.
