A senior United States Congressman has called upon former Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to dismantle the terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed and guarantee protection to the country’s religious minorities.
During a meeting in Washington on Thursday with a visiting Pakistani delegation led by Bhutto Zardari, Congressman Brad Sherman conveyed deep concern about Pakistan’s continued harboring of the banned group. He also urged Islamabad to release Dr Shakil Afridi, the physician who aided the CIA in locating Osama bin Laden.
The meeting coincided with the US visit of an Indian multi-party parliamentary delegation led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, which has been briefing American officials on Operation Sindoor and India’s response to terrorism following the 22 April Pahalgam attack.
Taking to the social media platform X after his interaction, Sherman wrote, “I 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.”
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Pearl, a journalist for The Wall Street Journal, was abducted and murdered in Pakistan in a case that drew global condemnation. Omar Saeed Sheikh was later convicted for orchestrating the attack.
Sherman noted that Pearl’s family still resides in his California district. “Pakistan should do all it can to eliminate this vile group and combat terrorism in the region,” he added.
Raising further concerns about Islamabad’s domestic policies, Sherman said religious minorities in Pakistan — including Christians, Hindus and Ahmadiyya Muslims — continue to face persecution. “They must be allowed to practise their faith and participate in the democratic system without fear of violence, persecution, discrimination, or an unequal justice system,” he said.
The Congressman also demanded the release of Dr Shakil Afridi. “Freeing Dr Afridi represents an important step in bringing closure for victims of 9/11,” Sherman stated. Afridi has been imprisoned since 2011, shortly after the bin Laden operation in Abbottabad.
Bhutto Zardari, who currently heads the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), also held meetings with UN Secretary-General António Guterres and ambassadors at the UN Security Council during his US visit. The outreach, seen as a renewed effort by Pakistan to internationalise the Kashmir issue, received little traction as US lawmakers instead called for action against home-grown terrorism.
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