Pak partner of terrorists who murder Americans: US lawmaker

A key US lawmaker has said that Pakistan is not a friend of the United States, while alleging that instead it is a "partner" of terrorist who murdered fellow Americans.

"The continued incarceration of Dr (Shakeel) Afridi by the Pakistani government should reaffirm to all Americans that Pakistan is not our friend but instead is the partner of terrorists who murder our fellow Americans," Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said yesterday.

Rohrabacher had this year introduced legislation to award Dr Afridi, the imprisoned Pak physician who helped CIA trace Osama bin Laden, the Congressional Gold Medal and offered a personal relief bill to grant him US Citizenship.

"As we commemorate the monstrous crime committed against America on 9-11 and honour the brave, innocent souls lost, let us also remember an heroic figure in bringing to justice those who murdered our fellow citizens on this day eleven years ago," he said.

"As I speak, Dr Afridi, the man who risked his life to provide the intel our forces needed to locate and eliminate Osama Bin Laden, languishes in a Pakistani jail. There has been no resolution through Congress nor public efforts by the US government to support him in his hour of need," Rohrabacher said.

The Pakistani physician has been tortured, his family been attacked and he is still in a desperate situation, the US lawmaker added.

Dr Afridi had said that Pakistan's powerful spy agency ISI regards the US as its "worst enemy" and Islamabad's claim that it is cooperating with Washington is a sham to extract billions of dollars in aid.

Shakeel Afridi, who spoke to Fox News from inside Peshawar Central Jail, also accused Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of supporting militancy including funding the Haqqani network, North Waziristan-based militant group that was last week designated a Foreign Terrorist Organisation by the US.

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