NEW DELHI: US Congressman Brad Sherman on Thursday made a pointed advise to a Pakistani delegation, led by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, that the country should “do all it can” to eliminate terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad from the region and ensure protection of religious minorities in the country.In a social media 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 Daniel Pearl in 2002.“I emphasized 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,” the Congressman said.“Pearl’s family continues to live in my district, and Pakistan should do all it can to eliminate this vile group and combat terrorism in the region,” he added.Daniel was kidnapped by jihadi terrorists in January 2002 while he was on his way to what he had expected would be an interview with Pakistani religious cleric Mubarak Ali Gilani in Karachi.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.The Pakistani delegation timed its visit to the US 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.Bhutto also landed in the US at the same time as the Tharoor-led delegation.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.
