No 'deal' between Pak, US to release doctor who tracked Osama bin Laden

Islamabad [Pakistan], May 3 (ANI): Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday confirmed that no "deal" is being weaved between Islamabad and Washington DC to release physician Dr Shakeel Afridi who aided the United States (US) to track down former Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011.

According to Dawn, Pakistan is not devising a plan to swap Afridi for Aafia Siddiqui - who is currently serving a sentence in a US jail for trying to kill US agents and military officers in Afghanistan - or former Pakistani ambassador Hussain Haqqani who resides in the US and is the prime suspect in the 2011 Memogate scandal that surfaced in 2011, said FO spokesman Dr Muhammad Faisal.

The Memogate scandal erupted in 2011 when Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz claimed to have received an 'anti-army' memo from Haqqani for the then-US joint chiefs chairman Admiral Mike Mullen.

Dr Faisal's remarks, which were made while addressing a weekly briefing, came days after the authorities in Pakistan moved Afridi from a prison in Peshawar to an undisclosed location, according to several media reports.

Pakistan's FO spokesman also turned down queries about media reports purporting that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had tried to stage a jailbreak in Peshawar in a bid to rescue Afridi.

Afridi, who was arrested eight years ago after it surfaced that he had passed on intelligence about Osama bin Laden to CIA.

He has languished behind bars since 2012 when a court convicted him and sentenced him to 33 years in prison over ties with militants.

However, maintaining his innocence, former surgeon has always denied ties with militants.(ANI)