Officials terms Shakil Afridi’s interview baseless and bogus

Officials in different departments have rejected the interview of Dr Shakil Afridi by Fox news, rubbishing the possibility of such an interaction.

Earlier, Fox News, an American TV channel aired what it claimed was an interview with Dr Shakil Afridi, the person who assisted the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in locating Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

However, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) government, prison officials and Afridi’s lawyers all rejected the interviewing and termed it bogus.

The TV channel quoted Dr Afridi as saying that the he suffered brutal interrogation and torture at the hands of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

“Afridi accused the spy agency of funding militants, regarding the US as its worst enemy, while it accused Pakistan of cooperating with the US only to extract money, amongst numerous other allegations”, the transcript stated. Fox News only aired the transcript of the purported interview.

Officials at Peshawar Central Jail categorically rejected the interview, ruling out any possibility of such security breakup. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home and Tribal Affairs Departments also endorsed the stance of the prison officials.

A statement issued by the Peshawar Central Jail said, “Dr Afridi is beyond the access of media and the news published, whether audio or video, is ambiguous and false as no one can meet [him] without approval of the provincial government and jail authorities”.

It further said that the provincial government regretted the story aired by an American TV channel since only family members had been allowed to meet Afridi once a month at an office of the deputy superintendent jail.

Home Department Section Officer Qamar Ali while speaking to the media said that the detained doctor had been under strict security and only his family members were allowed to meet him once a month after approval of the provincial government.

In the meantime, the 18-member defence counsel of Dr Shakil also rejected the interview and declared it bogus and baseless.

Advocate Samiullah Afridi said that the counsel on behalf of Dr Afridi and his family completely denied the report released by Fox News after establishing contact with Dr Afridi.

In his view, it was quite impossible for anyone other than his counsel and family members to meet Dr Afridi in the prison.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=32495

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Sep 12 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.