America demand on osama bin laden: Osama bin Laden, a criminal of 9/11 attacks in the US, was killed by the US Army in Pakistan. Pakistani doctor Shakeel Afridi helped the US intelligence agency CIA in tracking Laden. In such a situation, this matter has once again come back to the headlines.
US Congress member Brad Sherman has demanded the release of Dr. Afridi. He asked the Pakistani delegation under the leadership of former Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to pressurize him to release a doctor in Pakistan.
Sherman told Bilawal Bhutto Zardari that it would be a meaningful step to release Dr. Afridi, especially for families who have lost their loved ones in 9/11 attacks. Sherman’s appeal expresses long-running tension in the US-Pakistan relations on this issue.
Who is Dr. Shakeel Afridi?
Dr. Shakeel Afridi was a government doctor in the tribal area of Khyber, Pakistan, when he was contacted to run a vaccination campaign. However, this was not done for public health benefits but for espionage. Under the guise of Hepatitis B vaccination campaign, Dr. Afridi’s job was to collect DNA samples of residents of a military cantonment city of Abbottabad, about 160 km from Peshawar.
American intelligence agencies hoped that these samples would confirm the presence of Osama bin Laden living there. According to reports by National Geographic and BBC, in April 2011, Dr. Afridi knocked out the door to the Kilinuma house, where Bin Laden was hidden. Although it is not clear whether he ever received DNA samples from bin Laden’s relatives, the information he helped collect, the CIA came to know about the site of terrorist Laden.
On May 2, 2011, US Army personnel entered Abbottabad and killed Osama bin Laden. This attack shocked the world and embarrassed Pakistan.
Dr. Shakeel Afridi sentenced to 33 years sentenced
Twenty days after the death of Osama bin Laden, Dr. Afridi was arrested by Pakistani officials on 23 May 2011. Initially, he was accused of treason. In 2012, he was convicted by a court for allegedly funding Lashkar-e-Islam. After this, he was sentenced to 33 years in jail, which was later reduced to 23 years.
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