The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Special to the tribune Ashish Kumar Sen in Washington US slams Pak for jailing doc who led CIA to Osama The Obama administration and US lawmakers on Wednesday reacted angrily to news that a Pakistani court had sentenced a doctor, who helped the CIA locate Osama bin Laden, to 33 years in prison. A tribal court in the Khyber area on Wednesday found Dr Shakil Afridi guilty of treason for helping the US intelligence agency. Besides the prison term, he was fined $3,500. Afridi ran a vaccination programme and gathered DNA samples in an effort that helped confirm the Al-Qaida leader’s presence at a mansion in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad. “The doctor was never asked to spy on Pakistan,” a senior US official with knowledge of counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan told The Tribune on background. “He was asked only to help locate Al-Qaida terrorists, who threaten Pakistan and the US,” the official added. “He helped save Pakistani and American lives. His activities were not treasonous, they were heroic and patriotic.” Sens Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat, and John McCain, Arizona Republican, chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Afridi’s sentence was “shocking and outrageous”. In a joint statement, the senators called on the Pakistani government to immediately pardon and release Afridi. “What Afridi did is the furthest thing from treason,” said the senators. “It was a courageous, heroic and patriotic act, which helped to locate the most wanted terrorist in the world - a mass murderer who had the blood of many innocent Pakistanis on his hands,” they added. Levin and McCain said Afridi “set an example that we wish others in Pakistan had followed long ago.” “He should be praised and rewarded for his actions, not punished and slandered,” they added. The senators predicted that this development will diminish the US Congress’ willingness to provide financial assistance to Pakistan. California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, has led the effort on Capitol Hill to cut off aid to Pakistan. Afridi’s sentencing was “decisive proof Pakistan sees itself as being at war with us,” said Rohrabacher. “The Taliban is only the tip of the spear, the real enemy is Pakistan... Afridi came through for the American people, now it is our time to come through for him," he added. Obama administration officials frequently raise Afridi’s case in discussions with their Pakistani counterparts. Afridi was arrested by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency two weeks after Osama was killed in a US commando raid in Abbottabad in May last year. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a congressional hearing in February that Pakistan had no basis for holding Afridi. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated that sentiment at a press briefing on Wednesday.“We continue to see no basis for Afridi to be held,” said Nuland. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” in January that Afridi had helped lead the US to Osama. “This was an individual who helped provide intelligence that was very helpful with regards to this operation,” Panetta said. “He was not in any way treasonous towards Pakistan. For them to take this kind of action against somebody who was helping to go after terrorism, I just think is a real mistake on their part,” he added. The use of a vaccination campaign as cover for the CIA operation raised suspicions about all immunisation efforts in Pakistan. The US official, who spoke on background, said the vaccination campaign Afridi participated in was real and conducted by genuine medical professionals. “The idea that these were in any way ‘fake’ is simply mistaken,” the official said. “Many Pakistani children received vaccinations, and if the effort had not been interrupted by the arrest of the doctor, they would have been fully immunised,” he added. The decision to put Afridi behind bars has further complicated the US-Pakistan relationship, which is already strained by Islamabad’s reluctance to reopen ground routes used by NATO to supply its troops in Afghanistan. The US and Pakistani officials are in talks to determine the conditions for reopening the routes. US must respect our courts: Pak Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday rejected US criticism over jailing a doctor who helped the CIA to hunt down Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, saying Washington should respect decisions of the country's courts. — PTI
	NATO raid US rules out apology to Pak Says time to move ahead Washington, May 24 The White House has ruled out an apology to Islamabad for November 26 incident in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a NATO cross-border fire and said it is time that the two countries move ahead, two days after such a demand was made Pakistan People's Party leader Bilawal Bhutto. "I wouldn't have anything new to offer on that beyond what we have said that we deeply regret the incident. We have thoroughly investigated it. We shared the results of the that investigation with the Pakistanis," Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Adviser, told foreign journalists when asked about his reaction in Bhutto's demand. "We believe there's a basis for us to move forward and move beyond that particular incident, to take steps to make sure that that doesn't happen again, to be respectful of Pakistani sovereignty and to be in, frankly, better communication in that areas so that we don't see repeated incidents on the border," he said at a conference at Foreign Press Centre here. Responding to another question, Rhodes said a bilateral meeting between US President Barack Obama and his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari was never planned on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Chicago. “On the matter of a bilateral meeting, the President didn't host any formal bilateral meetings except for the one with President Karzai, given the fact that there was a very busy NATO summit schedule. So it was always our intention to really focus his time on these multilateral meetings," he said. He said the meeting with President Karzai was a priority as Afghanistan was the focus of the summit. President Obama was able to meet on the margins of the meetings with a handful of leaders that included President Zardari, he added. "They met twice around the margins of the ISAF session. These weren't extensive talks. They were rather brief. But one of them was a one-on-one between Obama and Zardari, and the other one was a trilateral discussion amongst Obama, Zardari and Karzai," Rhodes said. He said, in their conversations with Pakistan, including the President's conversations, the US has reaffirmed a commitment to work to reset US-Pakistan relationship. There's obviously been a period of tension for a variety of reasons. "We have also been respectful of the process that's been underway in Pakistan since November that led into the parliamentary review of the bilateral relationship. So we certainly wanted to see that process concluded," he said. "Since that process concluded, we started to talk about how to cooperate effectively on counter-terrorism, supporting a stable Afghanistan and a stable South Asia ,” he said. — PTI
	PM Gilani won’t be disqualified: Speaker Afzal Khan in Islamabad Pakistan’s National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza has shot down a reference to disqualify Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani following his conviction by the Supreme Court on the contempt of court charges. Announcing her decision here, the Speaker declined top pass on the reference to the Election Commission to unseat Gilani. She noted that the court had not clearly raised the question of disqualification in its verdict detailed on April 26. The Speaker was required to pronounce her ruling within 30 days whether any question had arisen for disqualification. The Speaker said according to Article 63 of the Constitution, the question of the Prime Minister’s qualification “does not arise”. She has also decided against forwarding the Supreme Court’s reference to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Quoting the Supreme Court’s order in her 5-page long ruling, Mirza wrote, “No specific charge regarding the propagation of any opinion or acting in any manner against the independence of the judiciary or defaming or ridiculing the judiciary as contemplated under Article 63 (1) (g) has been framed.”
	Chinese delegation to visit Pak next week Afzal Khan in Islamabad A high-level Chinese delegation, led by Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, is due to travel to Islamabad next week amidst continued uncertainty surrounding the troubled ties between Pakistan and the United States. The delegation, comprising top officials from China’s diplomatic corps and intelligence services, will have wide-ranging talks with the country’s civil and military leadership, said a foreign department official. Jiechi would arrive on May 29 and hold formal discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar. Jiechi would also meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
	Syrian army behind majority of rights abuses: UN panel Geneva, May 24 The Syrian army and security forces have been responsible for the majority of the serious rights abuses committed since March this year as they hunt down defectors and opponents, UN-appointed investigators said today. "Most of the serious human rights violations documented by the Commission in this update were committed by the Syrian army and security services," said the Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, established by the UN Human Rights Council last year. These violations were committed "as part of military or search operations conducted in locations known for hosting defectors and/or armed persons, or perceived as supportive of anti-government armed groups," it said. — AFP
	Fresh crisis in Nepal as SC says no to Assembly extension Kathmandu, May 24 Nepal today hit another roadblock on its turbulent path to write a new statute, as the Supreme Court stayed a Maoist-led government's move to seek another extension to the Constituent Assembly just three days before its term expires. The Supreme Court's order blocking a further three months of extension to the constitution drafting authority created fresh political uncertainty in the country. The ruling leaves the political parties with 72 hours to promulgate a constitution, failing which fresh elections will have to be held. The stay order came even as Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Sitaula walked out of the government, in protest against the cabinet's move. — PTI