Dumb Americans? Sure.
Leon Panetta, U.S. Defense Secretary, terms the arrest of Shakil Afridi a "mistake" although it was clearly an act of defiance by a rogue, terrorist state against the United States and the world at large.
Afridi, who is an American and Pashtun hero, played a key role in making the world a safe place is languishing in solitary confinement in a torture cell of the infamous Inter-Services Intelligence. Some Americans, including the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, are talking about "territorial integrity and national sovereignty" of the rogue, terrorist state of Pakistan.
Afridi was arrested just 20 days after the May 2 raid form outside his home in Hayatabad. the fate of his wife, a U.S. citizen, is also unknown.
Pakistan formed an Abbottabad Commission to probe the security breaches that led to the successful Navy SEALS raid on May 2 that took down Osama bin Laden, the man responsible for the slaughter of 3,000 Americans.
The Abbottabad Commission was born with birth defects as it was a result of a rape and assault on the judiciary by the military. Asma Jahangir, president of the supreme court bar association raised strong objections as she said the chief justice was not consulted on the formation of the committee.
The mandate of the commission was “to ascertain the full facts regarding the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan; investigate circumstances and facts regarding the US operation in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011; determine the nature, background and causes of lapses of the concerned authorities, if any; and make consequential recommendations.”
However, the main aim of the commission was to identify the security lapses and the culprits who abetted the SEALS raid. For the Pakistani defense establishment Osama bin Laden was a security asset.
The terms of reference of any commission in Pakistan is such that it will submit its recommendations after completing its inquiry.
In the case of Afridi the shadowy Commission formed under orders of the Rawalpindi army general headquarters recommended that Afridi be tried for treason even before completing its full inquiry and penning its recommendations. Afridi has also been charged under the 1973 Army Act, which means he has no recourse to a civilian court of justice.
The two men responsible for Osama bin Laden presence next to the Pakistan Military Academy in Abbottabad -- Pakistan's West Point --, were Generel Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and Inter-Services Inteligence chief General Shuja Pasha.
However, Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States, gets punished for doing the right thing and demanding that Pakistan military must sever its ties with religious extremists.
Pakistan also launched a campaign to denigrate Afridi and by extension the United States by lobbying the European Parliament that the Pakistani medic had violated ethical conduct of a vaccination campaign by secretly working for the C.I.A.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) has moved a resolution in the House of Representatives to award U.S. nationality to Afridi. He is the same member who has called for giving right to self-determination to the people of Balochistan.
Rohrabacher, along with Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Steve King (R-IA), Ted Poe (R-TX), Brad Sherman (D-CA) and Russ Carnahan (D-MO) have instilled hope in the hearts of the Baloch people.
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