 | US concern over Afridi’s torture claims
12 September 2012
|
| 
WASHINGTON: The United States said on Tuesday it cannot verify an alleged interview by a Pakistani jailed after he helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden but would be concerned if his torture claims were true.
In May, a Pakistani court sentenced a doctor, Shakeel Afridi, to 33 years in jail after he was arrested following the killing by US troops of bin Laden in May 2011 at his compound in the town of Abbottabad.
Afridi was said to have worked with the CIA to set up a fake vaccination program to obtain DNA samples in Pakistani communities in order to identify relatives of the fugitive al Qaeda leader.
But he was charged and jailed for treason over alleged ties to the militant group Lashkar-i-Islam.
US television channel Fox News said on Tuesday it had obtained an exclusive phone interview with Afridi from behind bars, in which he detailed months of torture by Pakistan’s shadowy Inter Service Intelligence.
Afridi’s lawyer said it was a fake, and AFP reporters in Peshawar said a phone conversation would be unlikely as mobile phones are jammed in his jail.
“Frankly, we can’t at this point verify the authenticity of the interview,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
“If we do find that it’s authentic though, then the allegations would be extremely concerning. Pakistan obviously has human rights obligations including under the convention against torture.”
“One would expect that the people in the government would be investigating such claims by Dr Alfridi if in fact it turns out that this tape is authentic.”
According to Fox News, Afridi said he had agreed to help the CIA out of love for the United States and said he would do so again despite months of torture by the ISI.
Soon after his arrest he was taken to the ISI headquarters. “My clothes were removed and I was forced by a major to wear old dirty torn rags,” the voice on the suspect recording said.
“It was difficult to eat food. I had to bend down on my knees to eat with only my mouth, like a dog. I sat on the floor.” After being blindfolded for eight months, and shackled in handcuffs behind his back for 12 months, his eyesight and limbs have been damaged, he said.
Nuland said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has “been outspoken on this case, has called the sentence unjust, unwarranted and has called for his release.”
Fox News added Afridi’s conditions had improved as he is now held in a jail in Peshawar, northwest of Islamabad, where he has a cell with a bed and bathroom and a small gas burner to cook his meals. | | See Also in Political News
|
|  Tripped units at Guddu fixed, power supply resumes
25 May 2013
JACOBABAD: Fourteen tripped units of Guddu Thermal Power Plant and a technical glitch in Dera Murad Jamali grid station have been fixed on Saturday morning, Geo news reported
The power supply to affected parts of Sindh and Balochistan have also resumed following the removal of technical faults.
Earlier, KESCO sources said that power supply to Jafferabad and Nasirabad among various areas was halted as a technical fault had occurred in Dera Murad Jamali grid station.
On the other hand, ... Full Story |  PIA plane lands at Manchester airport, probe continues
25 May 2013
LONDON: A Pakistan International Airline (PIA) passenger plane, which was forced to land at a London airport after two travelers threatened to ‘explode the plane’ during their argument, has now arrived at Manchester.
According to the sources, British police arrested two people on suspicion of endangerment of aircraft after diverting Manchester-bound PIA flight PK-709 to land at Stansted airport following a mid-air alert.
Both the British nationals of Pakistani origin were arrested after ... Full Story |  Deal with IMF now will be self-defeating: Sartaj
25 May 2013
LAHORE : Pakistan’s new leadership expects first results of its planned steps to shore up its finances and ease a power crisis in two or three months and only then should decide whether and on what terms to seek an IMF bailout, a senior policy adviser said on Friday.
Most economists, lenders and rating agencies say that the nation’s finances have reached such a critical stage that a deal with the International Monetary Fund will be necessary and the sooner it comes the better.
But Sartaj Aziz, ... Full Story | |
|
|
|
