US rules out any prisoner swap talks involving Dr Aafia

WASHINGTON: The US Department of State Thursday categorically denied any high-profile prisoner swap talks with Pakistan, Geo News reported.

“The United States Government is not in discussions with the Government of Pakistan on a prisoner exchange or transfer involving Dr Aafia Siddiqui", State Department’s Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said in a daily press briefing.

She said this while replying to a question that there were reports that US government had offered Pakistan to sign a prisoner swap agreement for extradition of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, who is facing life sentence here in US.

To another question regarding reports the Secretary of State, John Kerry was likely to visit Pakistan on 28th and 29th of this month, Ms HARF said, "I don’t have any travel to announce at this point."

"We’ve said repeatedly that the Secretary looks forward to traveling to Pakistan when he can spend some time there discussing a wide range of issues, but I have no travel to announce at this point", Ms Harf said.