US reduces aid by $33mn after Pakistan jails doctor
Outraged over a Pakistani court's decision to imprison a surgeon for helping track Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, the United States has decided to cut aid to Islamabad by $33 million.
This means $1 million for each year of Shakeel Afridi in prison after he was convicted of high treason by a four-member tribal court in the semi autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and sentenced to 33 years in jail was.
"It's arbitrary, but the hope is that Pakistan will realise we are serious," said Senator Richard Durbin after the unanimous 30-0 vote by the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday.
"It's outrageous that they (the Pakistanis) would say a man who helped us find Osama bin Laden is a traitor."
The Senate Armed Services Committee also passed a measure that could lead to even deeper cuts in aid.
The panel decided to limit the availability of the $1.75 billion Coalition Support Fund (CSF) unless the Defence Secretary certifies that Afridi has not been imprisoned.
Top Republican Senator on the Armed Services Committee John McCain said lawmakers have agreed to withhold military aid for Pakistan.
"All of us are outraged at the imprisonment and sentencing of some 33 years virtually a death sentence to the doctor in Pakistan who was instrumental ... in the removal of Osama bin Laden."
The latest decision by the key Senate panel represents about four per cent of the $800 million set aside for Pakistan for the year 2013 including $250 million in foreign military aid and another $50 million for Pakistan's counterinsurgency efforts.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the jailing of the doctor "unjust and unwarranted" and vowed to continue to press the case with Islamabad.
"We regret both the fact that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence We are raising it and we will continue to do so because we think that his treatment is unjust and unwarranted."
Afridi ran a vaccination programme for the CIA to collect DNA and verify Bin Laden's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad where US Navy SEALS killed the Al Qaida chief May 2, 2011.
The secret CIA operation outraged Pakistani officials. Afridi was arrested by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) two weeks after the Al Qaeda leader's death.
Source: United States News.Net
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