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Pakistan

Congress move for Dr Afridi's US citizenship not legally binding

Dunya News

US officials have downplayed the Congressional move to grant US citizenship to Dr. Shakeel Afridi.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher had moved a bill on Friday with the recommendation to grant US citizenship to Dr. Shakeel Afridi, who has been under custody in Pakistan on charges of covertly running a vaccination campaign in Abbottabad to help CIA reach Osama bin Ladens compound.The US state departments spokesperson, Victoria Nuland said we are aware of the Congress resolution forwarded for granting US citizenship to Dr. Shakeel Afridi. She, however, stressed that the bill had not been finalized as yet, and neither had it been formally presented in the Congress.Such resolutions forwarded by individual members, even if approved, are only recommendations and have no legal binding on the administration, she stated. The Pentagon spokesman, George Little also declined to publicly comment on the case of Dr. Shakeel Afridi in a separate briefing.He, however, emphasized that anybody helping US to reach Osama bin Laden was working against al-Qaeda and not against Pakistan, hinting that the US was not realy happy with the treatment meted out to Dr. Afridi, who was being accused of treason for helping a foreign countrys forces covertly.The spokespersons of Pentagon and State Department also expressed ignorance about a letter written by Pakistans lobbyist in Washington, DC, Mark Siegel to US officials seeking apology for the NATO airstrike on November 26 that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. The incident has led to heightened tensions between both countries.We are not aware of Pakistani lobbyists letter to US officials asking for apology on NATO attacks, Victoria Nuland said. She, however, sought to press home a point that we dont conduct our business with Pakistan through private lobbyists, but through officials channels like Ambassador Munter in Islamabad and Ambassador Rehman in Washington.We are respectful of the time Pakistan wants to complete its parliamentary review and remain open to discussion on every issue, she said while disagreeing that communication lines with Pakistan were suspended as the US was awaiting the parliamentary recommendations.Our civilian programmes in Pakistan are going forward without any change or impediment. Its only a question of where we go on security and counter-terrorism issues with Pakistan, she pointed out.George Little, while saying that he was unaware of any such letter, said that we signaled our willingness after the NATO airstrike to brief Pakistan after the completion of NATO attack inquiry report.We have not had a chance to discuss the report with Pakistani authrities in person, but will welcome the opportunity to do so, he observed while adding that there was no word from Pakistan yet on re-opening of ground supply routes for NATO forces that were closed down in protest after the incident.- Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in Washington, DC
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