The federal government has refused to accept the provincial government’s request for transfer of Dr Shakil Afridi from Peshawar Central Jail due to security risk.
According to official sources, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had written a letter to the central government asking for the transfer of Afridi from the central jail of Peshawar. The province had also asked for beefing up security at Peshawar jail.
Islamabad, however, expressed the inability to step up security at the jail and transferring Afridi from the central jail, the provincial government’s sources said.
Peshawar Central Jail has been under militant threat due to Afridi’s presence, an official said.
Afridi was arrested after US troops killed al Qaeda commander Osama bin Laden in May 2011 in Abbottabad. The CIA had recruited the doctor to run a vaccination program for obtaining DNA samples to help identify bin Laden.
Afridi was convicted for his alleged ties to militants. He has been imprisoned in the Peshawar Central Jail since May 2012.
