Islamabad, Oct 7 : A Pakistani doctor accused of running a phoney vaccination programme for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to help track down Osama bin Laden, should be put on trial for high treason, an inquiry commission set up by the Pakistan Government has said.

Dr. Shakil Afridi, who is currently in the custody of Pakistan''s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, reportedly ran a fake polio vaccination drive on behalf of the CIA in a bid to obtain DNA samples of bin Laden’s family in Abbottabad, months before the then Al Qaeda chief was killed by US Navy Seals on May 2.

The inquiry commission probing the Osama bin Laden debacle said in a statement that it was of the view that "a case of conspiracy against the state of Pakistan and high treason" should be registered against Afridi on the basis of the evidence it had gathered, Fox News reports.

While the Abbottabad Commission did not elaborate, such a charge carries the death penalty, the report said.

It is unclear why the body would make this recommendation public, and whether it will lead to charges being filed against Afridi, who has no lawyer, it added.

Afridi''s fate is a complicating issue in relations between the CIA and the ISI that were strained to the breaking point by the bin Laden raid.

US and Pakistani officials have said Afridi ran a vaccination program in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad where the Al Qaeda leader hid in an effort to obtain a DNA sample from him. Afridi was detained in the days after the US operation. (ANI)