Washington: Soon after being snubbed by Indian MP Shashi Tharoor, Pakistan’s former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto was ‘mauled’ by US Congressman Brad Sherman on the issue of terrorism. Bhutto is touring the US capital with a delegation that aims to put forward Pakistan’s side of the story on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor – the military strike launched by India against terror facilities in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir – pthat escalated into a full-blown four-day conflict between the two nations.
Sherman told Bhutto and his team that Pakistan needs to do “all it can” to eliminate the “vile” terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed as well as ensure protection of religious minorities.
In a post on X, Sherman said that he “emphasised to the Pakistani delegation the importance of combatting terrorism, and in particular, the group Jaish-e-Mohammed, who murdered my constituent Daniel Pearl in 2002”.
Terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh was convicted of orchestrating the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Sherman said Pearl’s family continues to live in his district and “Pakistan should do all it can to eliminate this vile group and combat terrorism in the region”.
The US lawmaker also told the Pakistani delegation that the protection of religious minorities in Pakistan remains an important issue.
“Christians, Hindus and Ahmadiyya Muslims living in Pakistan must be allowed to practice their faith and participate in the democratic system without fear of violence, persecution, discrimination, or an unequal justice system.” Sherman further urged the Pakistani delegation to relay to their government the need to free Dr Shakil Afridi, who continues to languish in prison for helping the United States kill Osama bin Laden.
“Freeing Dr Afridi represents an important step in bringing closure for victims of 9/11,” he said.
Afridi is a Pakistani physician who helped the CIA run a polio vaccination programme in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to collect DNA samples of bin Laden’s family.
Afridi was arrested by Pakistani authorities shortly after the American raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad in May 2011. In 2012, a Pakistani court sentenced Afridi to 33 years in prison.
