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ISLAMABAD - The Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama binLaden faced accusations of corruption and other wrongdoing longbefore he was captured by Pakistani intelligence agents and thenjailed for 33 years for treason. In interviews over the weekend, several current and formerPakistani officials described the doctor, Shakil Afridi, as ahard-drinking womaniser who had faced accusations of sexualassault, harassment and stealing. They said his main obsession was making easy money. According to a 2002 Pakistan health department document seen byReuters, Afridi was deemed to be corrupt and unreliable and unfitfor government service. US officials have hailed Afridi, aged in his 40s, as a hero forhelping pinpoint bin Laden's location in the Pakistani town ofAbbottabad where the al Qaeda leader was killed in May last year ina raid by US Navy SEALs. Officially Pakistan has said nothing about Afridi except that thecourt's decision to sentence him should be respected. But the fresh accusations about Afridi's character, coupled withhis imprisonment, will almost certainly lead to further strain onalready tense bilateral ties. Pakistani officials' attempts to cast doubt on Afridi's characterwill likely be viewed in some quarters as retaliation for his workwith the Americans, despite the disclosures in the 2002 Pakistanidocument. US officials on Monday called the accusations characterassassination. In Washington, one senior official said the US government wasunaware of any questionable behaviour by Afridi. "Available information showed Afridi was a respected member of thePakistani health care community," said the senior official. "We areaware of efforts, put in place since Dr. Afridi's arrest, todenigrate his character." Another US official said: "It's nothing short of puzzling thatPakistani officials would disparage someone who helped in the huntfor bin Laden, a terrorist who had Pakistani blood on his hands." The Afridi family's lawyer declined to be drawn on the controversy."I cannot comment on any past allegations against him," Raza Safitold Reuters. Afridi ran a vaccination campaign in Abbottabad and used cheekswabs to try to gather DNA from bin Laden's children, said oneformer Pakistani security official familiar with the case. Accompanied by three health workers, he went to bin Laden's houseand told his wives that a vaccination programme was underway in thearea, said the former security official. "A woman went in (to the house) and said 'bring the children out,the doctor is waiting and he will give them the drops'," the formerofficial said. "That's when he used the swabs." It was unclear whether the CIA used the swabs to determine if thechildren were bin Laden's. A DNA test can prove close bloodrelations and US authorities could have matched the samples withprofiles it had collected from several of bin Laden's relatives. Inadvertently confirmed In Washington, another senior US official with knowledge ofAfridi's work for the CIA said the doctor's vaccination efforts hadalso enabled him to gather intelligence on bin Laden's couriers whovisited the house. "Dr Afridi was inadvertently able to confirm something we alreadysuspected - that bin Laden's couriers practised extraordinaryoperational security," the official said. "Was that a key to the raid? No. Was it important? Absolutely." US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said on Sunday that Afridi "wasnot working against Pakistan. He was working against al Qaeda. AndI hope that ultimately Pakistan understands that". "Because what they have done here, I think, you know, does not helpin the effort to try to re-establish a relationship between theUnited States and Pakistan." US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher introduced legislation in Februarycalling for Afridi to be granted US citizenship and said it was"shameful and unforgivable that our supposed allies" charged him. Unwanted scrutiny Infuriated by the unilateral US raid in a town just a two-hourdrive from the capital Islamabad, many in the country see Afridi asa villain who conspired against the state and brought unwantedscrutiny of Pakistan's attitude to militants. Last week, a tribal court sentenced him to 33 years in prison forworking with a foreign intelligence agency. Afridi is being kept in solitary confinement in a prison in thecity of Peshawar for fear that he may be targeted by Islamicmilitants also incarcerated there, said prison sources. Afridi had been working with the CIA for years before the bin Ladenraid, providing intelligence on militant groups in Pakistan'sunruly tribal region, said the former Pakistani security officialand a former Pakistani intelligence official. They and other officials said he was of questionable character. "Afridi was known to perform surgeries even though hisqualification was basic and he was not authorised to conductsurgery," a senior provincial health official said. "He was accused of conducting surgeries of the eyes, nose, ears,kidneys." Afridi was also in contact with militant groups and treated Talibanfighters who were wounded in battle with the Pakistani military,said the former security official. The Taliban are described by the state as terrorists, and mostPakistanis strongly oppose their suicide bombing missions, andphilosophy. "Keeping in view his extreme lust for money, I am ashamed to evencall him a doctor. He is a corrupt, unreliable and low categoryofficer," said a March 2002 provincial health department report onAfridi's performance and conduct. The document described Afridi as unreliable, cruel and inhumane andgave him the lowest job performance scores in most categories. Itwent on to say: "If his overall character as a doctor is taken into account I wouldrecommend and feel that he is not at all fit for government serviceor any position where money is involved.". The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Froth Pumps , Sludge Slurry Pump Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Centrifugal Slurry Pumps today!
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