Two top American lawmakers have asked US President Barack Obama to withhold all aid to Pakistan until the country releases Dr Shakil Afridi who helped the CIA track Osama bin Laden.
“Until Dr Afridi is released from prison, we urge you to withhold all unallocated foreign assistance money for Pakistan remaining for this fiscal year. We must send a message not only to Pakistan but to any other countries seeking to use American taxpayer dollars to subsidize their subversion of America’s global priorities,” Senator Rand Paul and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, said in a letter to Obama. A copy of the letter was released to the press on Saturday. “Through the use of a door-to-door vaccination drive, Afridi bravely assisted US intelligence services in identifying the residents of the Abbottabad complex which was later confirmed to be the home of bin Laden,” the two Congressmen said. “For his work in supporting the successful search for Osama bin Laden, Dr Afridi deserves our appreciation. Unfortunately, the government of Pakistan has made it a point to punish Dr Afridi for helping to expose Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan hideout in the most severe manner possible,” they said. They said in response to this situation, they would be proposing legislation to withhold all foreign assistance money to the government of Pakistan until Dr Afridi is released.
‘VERY CONCERNED’: eanwhile, a State Department spokesman said the US was “very concerned” over Dr Afridi’s welfare. “We’re obviously very concerned about his welfare. It’s something that we’ve conveyed, obviously, from the highest levels of the State Department,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at his daily news conference.
“The Secretary (of State) spoke about this. We also are raising it bilaterally through our Ambassador, Cameron Munter, who I believe met with the foreign minister just a day or so ago and raised this issue again. We’re being very clear that we’re concerned about his welfare,” he said. Toner said that the US has not yet received any response on the clarification it sought from Pakistan on the reason for Afridi being sentenced.
“We’re still seeking clarity on what these new charges, where they came from and what, in fact, they mean. As far as I know, we’ve not received any response, but it hasn’t changed our basic position, which is that we think he’s being unfairly, unjustly held.”
“And what he did was in Pakistan’s interest, as well as our own, which is to take down one of the biggest mass murderers of the 21st century,” Toner said.
Chinese being well wishers of Pakistan have given the sincere advice that "We must talk what we can walk," empty rhetoric do not work in international diplomacy. In the end we will have to do what US demands, so we must not take a stand which we will not able to defend for whatever reason/reasons.
Why america is interested in this case? America must give up intereference in pakistan`s internal affairs.We do not want Americans in Pakistan any more they are not freinds but are enemies in that shape we wish to get rid of them.
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