WASHINGTON: US State Department Tuesday said that it was yet awaiting a clarification from Pakistan on Dr Shakeel Afridi’s case, Geo News reported.
Taking to newsmen during a daily briefing State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, ” We’ve not received any updates. And our position’s very clear.”
“ I did see that, that that court decision from the – you said from the weekend. I don’t have a lot to say. I mean, we’ve – obviously, we want to see the Pakistani Government pursue prosecution in these kinds of cases. But obviously, it was a legal process that took place and a legal decision or a court decision was made.”
He said the US didn’t think there were ever any grounds for Pakistan to hold him, much less convict him of any wrongdoing.
Toner added that in this case, this was a case where the Government of Pakistan brought these individuals to trial for their complicity in this case, adding there was a trial that took place, unfortunately, they didn’t win that trial, but US believed it’s important that they did pursue justice.
Toner said, “There was this weird reversal, last week on which they said, in fact, he was tried – and again, I’m going just off of news reports – because of his ties to the Pakistani Taliban.”
“And we’ve yet to receive from the government, to my understanding or to my knowledge, a clear explanation of that shift.”