The Pakistani doctor who helped find Osama bin Laden has told the media he had no idea he was being used in the US campaign to find Osama.
Shakeel Afridi said these things in an interview given to the American television channel Fox News from the Peshawar jail. In the interview, he said that the Pakistani intelligence agency kidnapped and tortured Osama after his death. Let’s try to know the different aspects of it.
What is Dr. Afridi’s reason for giving the interview?
To vent his anger against the ISI, Dr. Afridi chose the American right-wing media organization Fox News. His fate is now in the hands of ISI and if ISI wants, it can make his life worse many times. The commentators give only one reason for giving the interview: the extreme disappointment of Dr. Afridi.
Dr. Afridi has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for collaborating with an extremist group, which is a huge punishment in itself. Apart from this, he has been illegally held by ISI for a year and has been alone for four months. This interview appears to be a do or die situation for Dr. Afridi in order for him to gain the attention of the United States.
What is Dr. Afridi’s state of mind? Can you trust them?
Dr. Afridi belongs to the Afridi clan. They have been part of the bureaucracy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He must be well aware of ISI’s modus operandi in tribal areas. The people that Dr. Afridi has mentioned meeting during custody in the Fox interview cannot be completely wrong. His lawyer says that Dr. Afridi’s mental state is fine. At the same time, some of his friends and co-workers consider him ambitious, whose axis revolves around himself.
Giving a controversial interview like this seems like a deliberate gamble that could pose a threat to your safety. But it will also raise awareness among people about their condition in the United States. Dr. Afridi likely paid the price by giving controversial interviews to carve out a place for himself in the American mind.
Who smuggled the phone in for an interview in Peshawar jail?
Fox News’ Dominic D’Netel interviewed Dr. Afridi by phone. Dr. Afridi has been kept in solitary confinement. According to officials, his cell is quite open and comfortable. There are strict security measures for them. Only close relatives can meet.
After his conviction in May, Dr. Afridi has been visited only three times. The last time family members went to see him was August 29. So, did any family member call Dr. Afridi? Maybe he isn’t. It is not uncommon to find phones in Pakistani prisons and it is not difficult to find corrupt prison guards.
How much did Dr. Afridi know?
Dr. Afridi was captured after Osama’s death
After Osama’s death in May last year, Dr. Afridi was captured in Pakistan. There were reports that he used a fake vaccination campaign to bring the United States to Osama’s compound in Abbottabad.
However, many experts have expressed fears as to whether Dr. Afridi would have known in detail about the US operation or about Osama’s exact whereabouts or identity. Some experts formerly associated with the military also believe that the ISI interrogators agree with this logic as well.
Dr. Afridi himself admitted in a conversation with Fox News: “I did not know that any particular person was attacked. They only gave me my job. The house was famous by name… Waziristan House. I knew that some terrorists live there , but I didn’t know who they were. I was shocked when I learned later that my name has been linked to Osama’s death.”
Why didn’t Dr. Afridi leave Pakistan when he had the chance?
A few days after the conviction, Dr. Shakeel Afridi’s brother, Jameel Afridi, told the media that Shakeel was not a traitor and that the vaccination campaign in which he was a part had been approved by the health authorities of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Dr. Shakeel’s brother Afridi had also said that if Shakeel had wanted to leave Pakistan, he could have left after Osama’s death because he had an American visa. From the looks of it, it seems that due to the lack of information about the CIA operation, Dr. Afridi continued to think that he had done nothing wrong. Especially when Osama bin Laden was also on Pakistan’s most wanted list.
But in the interview given on Fox News, Dr. Afridi gave another reason for not leaving the country. It seems that the United States had asked him to go to Afghanistan. But Dr. Afridi was not willing to do it because he was afraid that some extremist group would kidnap him. Local officials say that in 2009-10 he was kidnapped by Lashkar-e-Islam over the death of a patient.