Dr. ShakeelAfridi and CIA Should ‘Hang
Heads in Shame’ (The Nation, Pakistan)
“Dr. Afridi's fake vaccination campaign has set back the cause
of making Pakistan polio-free for years. News that the CIA has
employed a Pakistani doctor to gather intelligence in the guise of fake immunizations
has sowed fear and suspicion. … Those who directed Dr. Afridi
to employ this cruel and dangerous method ought to hang their heads in shame, recalling
the little boys and girls whose lives they may have needlessly ruined.”
Dr. Shakil Afridi, a surgeon who helped the CIA identify Osama bin Laden: His conviction on treason charges Wednesday, and his sentence of 33 years behind bars, is sending yet another shock wave through U.S.-Pakistan relations.
Dr. ShakeelAfridi,
the doctor recruited by the CIA to conduct a mock vaccination drive to obtain al-Qaeda
chief Osama bin Laden’s DNA, has been found guilty of conspiring against the
state, and has been sentenced to 33 years in jail and fined Rupees 320,000
[$3,500], or an additional three years if he fails to pay the fine.
Being a resident of the Federally Administered Tribal Area, Dr.
Afridi was tried under Frontier Crime
Regulations. The ruling has not only provoked a storm among members of the
U.S. Administration, but also the U.S. Congress. A State Department
spokesperson said that it sees no reason for charging or holding him, and American
officials plan to appeal his sentence, and get it either reduced or repealed
altogether.
There is also an attempt to spin this decision as a victory
for bin Laden sympathizers, with the unfairly implicated Dr. Afridi
playing the role of valiant CIA informant. Of course, all of this is drivel.
The simple fact of the matter is that there is no country in the world, whatever
the issue, which would tolerate foreign spies operating on its soil.
Even more damning than the good Doctor's betrayal of the
state that employed him, is his absolutely criminal betrayal of his profession.
In the years to come, his real treason will be remembered by parents of children
who suffer the horrors of the totally preventable disease of polio. Dr. Afridi's fake vaccination campaign has set back the cause
of making Pakistan polio-free for years. News that the CIA has
employed a Pakistani doctor to gather intelligence in the guise of fake immunizations,
it cannot be emphasized enough, has sowed fear and suspicion. Those who
directed Dr. Afridi to employ this cruel and
dangerous method ought to hang their heads in shame, recalling the little boys
and girls whose lives they may have needlessly ruined.
