WASHINGTON: The US State Department has said that it’s reviewing a recent law linking US aid to the release of Dr Shakil Afridi but will comply with it.
The US Congress passed the law last week which requires the administration to withhold $33 million from aid to Pakistan until Dr Afridi, who helped CIA trace Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is released.
“We are reviewing the language and the law, and obviously we’ll comply with the law,” said State Department spokesperson Marie Harf while reiterating that Dr Afridi’s imprisonment was unjustified and unwarranted.
On Thursday, a Foreign Office spokesperson told a briefing in Islamabad that Pakistan would not release Dr Afridi under US pressure. She noted that the case was before a court and if the court exonerated him that would be a different matter.
Pakistani authorities arrested Dr Afridi soon after the May 2011 US raid on a compound in Abbottabad that killed Osama. Later, he was convicted for his alleged ties to the banned Lashkar-i-Islam and not for the US raid. He is currently held in a Peshawar prison.
“Our position on Dr Afridi has not changed. It’s long been clear. We believe his treatment is unjust and unwarranted,” said Ms Harf when asked to comment on Pakistan’s position on the issue.
“We regret that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence and would argue that his prosecution and conviction sends absolutely the wrong message about the fight against Al Qaeda, about the importance of our shared interest in bringing Osama bin Laden to justice.”
Asked to explain the impact of the new law on the US policy on this issue, Ms Harf said: “We’ll review the legislation and comply with whatever law ends up being put in place.”
When a reporter reminded her that Pakistan had already refused to comply with the law, Ms Harf the US position had not changed.
“I think his prosecution and conviction sends the wrong message about how important it was to bring the world’s most wanted terrorist to justice. I think that’s probably the only message I have for the Pakistani government on this one,” she said.
“We work with the Pakistani government on a wide range of issues, whether it’s economic issues, environmental issues, energy issues…certainly we talk about quite a bit, and obviously regional security issues,” said the US official while talking about a ministerial level meeting in Washington on Monday.
US Secretary of State John Kerry will host Adviser to Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz in Washington next week for the US-Pak Strategic Dialogue ministerial meeting.
This would be the first high-level meeting between the two countries after October, when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met President Barack Obama at the White House. At the meeting, the two leaders agreed to work together for a common goal of peace and stability in Afghanistan.