14 hours ago
3
A senior American lawmaker has told a visiting Pakistani delegation, led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, that the country should do "all it can” to eliminate the “vile” terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed as well as ensure protection of religious minorities.
The Pakistani delegation met Congressman Brad Sherman on Thursday (June 5) , timing their visit to the U.S. capital around the same time as a multi-party delegation of Indian parliamentarians led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is in Washington DC.
The all-party delegation is briefing key interlocutors about Operation Sindoor in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack and India’s strong resolve to fight terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
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”.
During my discussion with the #Pakistan delegation yesterday, I raised the critical issue of water for Sindh.
The Indus River is the lifeline for tens of millions of Pakistanis, and protecting that water resource is vital.
I am also very concerned to hear of unrest in the city… pic.twitter.com/6EKcb88Bv3
Terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh was convicted of orchestrating the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Mr. 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”.
Mr. Bhutto also landed in the U.S. at the same time as the Tharoor-led delegation.
Mr. Bhutto met UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with his delegation as well as Security Council Ambassadors in New York, and later travelled to Washington in Pakistan’s bid to internationalise the conflict with India as well as the Kashmir issue but instead got instructed to deal with terrorism emanating from its soil.
The U.S. 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.
Published - June 07, 2025 07:14 am IST
English (US) ·