US lawmaker urges Pakistani delegation to wipe out 'vile' Jaish-e-Mohammed
Pakistan is also sending delegations to select countries to affirm its stance over terrorism, a move similar to India's global outreach program on Operation Sindoor and its anti-terror stand.
The Zardari-led Pakistani delegation timed its visit to the US capital around the same time as the Indian delegation led by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, news agency PTI reported.
The Pakistan delegation met with Congressman Brad Sherman in Washington on Thursday, with the leader taking to X to say that he highlighted 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'.
JeM terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh was convicted of orchestrating the 2002 kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Sherman added that 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".
Bhutto landed in the US at the same as the Tharoor-led Indian delegation.
Bhutto and his allegation also met with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as well as Security Council Ambassadors in New York. They later travelled to Washington as part of their attempts to internationalise their conflict with India as well as the Kashmir issue. However, the delegation got instructed to deal with terrorism coming from its own soil.
"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 said.
He further urged the Pakistani delegation to emphasise to their government the need to free Dr Shakil Afridi, who continues to remain imprisoned for having helped the US kill Osama bin Laden. "Freeing Dr Afridi represents an important step in bringing closure for victims 9/11," Sherman added.
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.
Pakistani authorities arrested Afridi shortly after the American raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in May 2011. In 2012, a Pakistani court sentenced Afridi to 33 years in prison.
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