Intel: Taliban after Dr Afridi blood

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Intelligence officials have said keeping Dr Shakil Afridi in Peshawar’s central prison is no less than keeping him in plain sight of the Taliban who are purportedly baying for his blood.

According to an intelligence report submitted to authorities in Islamabad, Dr Afridi, who helped the American Central Investigative Agency hunt down al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, faces a grave threat to his life while he is imprisoned in the Peshawar central jail, reports The Express Tribune. Dr Afridi has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for treason.

The location and accessibility of the prison makes it an easy target for the Taliban. Flanked on one side by the Grand Trunk Road, and the other three sides by the congested area of Saddar, the jail can easily be targeted by militants, especially those from the adjoining Khyber Agency, the report says.

According to intelligence sources, the Taliban are considering two options at the moment — to attack the prison, take Dr Afridi with them and have their leadership decide his fate, or have an inmate from the jail kill the doctor.

“Yes, the Peshawar prison might be attacked,” said a prison official. Officials recommend the shifting of Dr Afridi from Peshawar to Islamabad for now, before a future plan is chalked out.

The banned Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP), on the other hand, said they would kill Dr Afridi to “avenge Sheikh Osama’s killing”.

“We consider Dr Shakil Afridi our avowed enemy. Our fighters will kill him wherever they find him,” TTP deputy chief Waliur Rehman told the paper.

“He has done everything for money,” Rehman said referring to Dr Afridi’s role in helping the CIA track down Osama in his Abbottabad compound through a phony vaccination drive.

“We will get him (Dr Afridi) as soon as possible to avenge the killing of Sheikh Osama,” the TTP deputy chief added.

Osama hunter’s family to challenge his conviction

Close relatives of convicted Dr Shakil Afridi, who helped the US find al Qaeda founder Osama Laden, said they will challenge the court’s sentence against him. Dr Afridi, a CIA spy was handed 33-year sentence by a court.

The government has formed a 12-member medical team, comprising high officials of the health department, to medically examine Dr Afridi on a daily basis.

It is pertinent to be mentioned here that a fresh maelstrom struck Pakistan’s already turbulent relationship with the United States when a US Senate panel voted to cut aid to Islamabad by a symbolic $ 33 million — $1 million for each year of jail time handed to the physician.

Hours before, the Pakistan foreign office had called on Washington to respect its court’s decision to imprison Dr Afridi on charges of high treason.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved the amendment to the $52 billion US foreign aid budget in a 30 to zero votes in a sign of growing outrage over Dr Afridi’s conviction.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) also expressed concern over denial of due process rights to Dr Afridi and has demanded a fair trial for him.