Special Assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi has said that Pakistan is willing to hold negotiations with the Trump administration over the release of Dr Shakil Afridi, who helped the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) pinpoint 9/11 mastermind and al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad.
"We will handle this issue within the parameters of our legal system but at the same time we don't want it to become an irritant with anyone. That is not the purpose of [our legal proceedings]," Geo News quoted Fatemi as saying on Saturday.
He added that the previous U.S. administration had demanded Afridi's release, but were elaborately informed that the man is a Pakistani national who violated local laws and was being dealt with accordingly.
Currently, Afridi is serving a 33-year jail sentence in a Peshawar prison.
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