WASHINGTON: The United States State Department has responded over the newsof alleged exchange of Hussain Haqqani for Shakil Afridi.
US official has denied reports of a supposed deal underway with Pakistanfor extradition of former Pakistan ambassador Husain Haqqani reportedly inexchange for Shakeel Afridi, the doctor who helped CIA track Osama binLaden.
“Absolutely not,” a spokesperson for the US State Department replied, whenasked if any such deal was at play. According to some media reports, thedirector general of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had toldthe Supreme Court that the American authorities were contacted regardingHaqqani’s extradition, and that the Americans said ‘you too have our man.’
The Foreign Office of Pakistan, a day ago, also clarified its positionsaying that there was no deal being made with the US to hand over ShakeelAfridi in exchange for Husain Haqqani.
Soon after Osama bin Laden was killed in May 2011 in a US raid inAbbottabad, the US media reported that Afridi had contributed to thesuccess of CIA operation by collecting DNA samples of bin Laden’s family.Afridi was later arrested and sentenced to 33 years for involvement inanti-state activities by a tribal court in 2012.link>link>
“There is no deal with the US to exchange Dr Shakil Afridi for HusainHaqqani or Aafia Siddiqui,” an FO spokesman had said.
The US State Department here weighed in declaring that it does not commenton pending or potential extradition requests, or confirm or deny that anextradition request has been made.
“The extradition process in the United States is governed by relevanttreaties and domestic statutes,” the State Department spokesperson said.
“It is not used to ‘trade’ prisoners.”