Peshawar: A Pakistani court has reinstated two women health workers who were sacked for allegedly helping Shakil Afridi, the doctor arrested for assisting the CIA in tracking former al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
The Abbottabad bench of Peshawar High Court yesterday reinstated the Lady Health Workers and ordered that they be granted all benefits they are entitled to since the day of their termination.
Bakht Bibi and Amina were among 17 Lady Health Workers sacked by the health department of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in February 2012.
They were fired on charges that they had assisted Afridi in a fake vaccination campaign in Abbottabad, to find the home of bin Laden, who was killed by American commandoes in an unilateral raid on May 2, 2011.
The 15 other Lady Health Workers were reinstated in the past.
All the sacked workers were penalised for not getting permission from higher authorities to join the campaign. They were unaware of the drama staged by Afridi, who was posted in the tribal region at that time.
They also faced pressure and were grilled by investigation agencies after the death of bin Laden, The News daily reported.
Afridi was arrested soon after the killing of bin Laden, which embarrassed the powerful Pakistani military. He was given a 33-year sentence by a court in the tribal belt on charges of having links with the banned Lashkar-e-Islam group.
