WASHINGTON - A US senator is pressing the Senate to vote on a bill to freeze aid to Pakistan unless Dr Shakil Afridi, the jailed doctor who helped CIA locate Osama bin Laden, is released.In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, Republican Senator Ran Paul called for an immediate vote to end US foreign aid to the country.Paul is attempting the procedural gambit in an effort to secure the release of Afridi’s release. “As you know, the number of work days in the 112th Congress is dwindling, and Congress may break for the November election as soon as next week,” Paul wrote. “Because of the urgency of seeing that Dr Afridi is freed, I am prepared to pursue any and all means to secure a vote on my bill immediately, including objecting to other Senate business and recessing the Senate for the election.” Copies of the letter were sent to President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman. Senator Paul renewed his bid for cutoff of Pakistan aid after Dr Afridi detailed in a Fox News jail-cell interview what he called ‘brutal torture’ at the hands of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). He claimed that they told him “the Americans are our worst enemies, worse than the Indians.” Afridi said the country’s claims of cooperation with the US are a sham to ‘extract’ billions in US aid.Senator Paul, after reading the account, on Monday sought immediate action on his anti-Pakistan bill unless Afridi is released - even if it means stalling the Obama administration’s nominee to be the next ambassador to Islamabad. Paul wrote that, given repeated delays in Afridi’s appeals hearing, it is “now abundantly clear that Pakistan has no intention of pursuing a proper and just hearing” for the doctor.In a separate statement Monday, Paul said the US “should not give foreign aid to a country whose government is torturing the man who helped us kill Osama bin Laden.“We should not be giving foreign aid to any country that is not clearly our ally. This must end, and this week I will renew my push for a vote on this issue, including holding up Senate business to accomplish this goal,” he said.Paul reportedly objected earlier this year to a confirmation vote for Rick Olson, the president’s Pakistan ambassador nominee, over the Afridi issue. The Kentucky Republican lawmaker continues to press for a vote on his bill, which Senate leaders appear reluctant to give him. In a Washington Times column last month, Paul wrote that he would “use every possible tool to see justice done or aid cut off.”The State Department did not respond to a request for comment on the Afridi issue Monday.