Davis has diplomatic immunity: Obama

Supporters of Pakistani religious party Jamat-e-Islami chant slogans during a rally against Raymond Davis in Lahore on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/165425.html

US President Barack Obama has urged Pakistan to free a US consulate employee who has been detained over the killing of two Pakistani citizens in Lahore.

During a press conference in Washington on Tuesday, Obama said that the US official, identified as Raymond Davis, enjoys diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention, a Press TV correspondent reported.

"If our diplomats are in another country, then they are not subject to that country's local prosecution," Obama stated. He called on Islamabad to abide by the convention and set Davis free.

Meanwhile, US Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry, who arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday for talks about Davis's case, has apologized over the killings.

"US respect Pakistani courts, but Raymond's issue has nothing to do with courts as diplomats enjoy immunity under Vienna convention," Kerry told reporters in eastern Lahore city.

The United States has already stepped up pressure on Pakistan over Davis and has threatened to cut billions of dollars in military and other assistance if Islamabad does not free him.

The warning has placed the government in a dilemma, with crowds of Pakistanis expressing indignation in rallies in Lahore and demanding that Davis be brought to justice.

Davis has said he acted in self-defense in an attempted robbery, but Pakistani officials say US diplomats are not allowed to carry weapons in the country.

Fauzia Wahab, a senior member of the Pakistan People's Party, told Press TV on Monday that the US official had diplomatic immunity and should not have been arrested.

Pakistani Federal Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan has said the US should free Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, who is a Pakistani citizen, in return for the US national's release.

In 2010, Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison in the US on charges of opening fire with a rifle on FBI agents and US military personnel in a police station in Ghazni, Afghanistan, where she was being interrogated, in 2008.

Pakistanis demand death for Davis

A Pakistani demonstrator shouts anti-American slogans during a protest to demand the death penalty for a US consulate employee. (file photo)

Source: Press TV

Hundreds of protesters in the Pakistani city of Lahore have taken to the streets, demanding the death penalty for a US consulate employee, Raymond Davis, accused of killing two Pakistanis.

Up to 500 people rallied outside the headquarters of Jamaat-e-Islami party in Lahore on Friday, shouting “Hang Davis,” “US terrorism in Pakistan unacceptable” and “Friends of America are traitors.”

In Karachi, activists from Jamaat-e-Islami and its youth wing Pasban held two rallies, burning the US flag and chanting “Death to Davis, death to America,” AFP reported Friday.

“We are deeply disappointed over threats by the US government,” senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader Liaqat Baloch told the demonstrators.

“The Raymond Davis incident has exposed the true face of America and has exposed Blackwater, which is behind bomb blasts on sacred Muslim places and shrines,” Baloch noted.

Davis, 36, is under investigation for shooting dead two Pakistani men in Lahore last month.

He has admitted he shot the men but says he acted in self-defense because they were trying to rob him.

Pakistan's police say they have proof that it was cold-blooded murder.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani court has extended his detention by two weeks.

The court wants the government to clarify whether Davis has diplomatic status. The United States says as an embassy staffer Davis does have political immunity.

The diplomatic spat over the arrest has threatened to derail relations between the US and Pakistan.

Washington has said it would expel Pakistan's ambassador to the United States if Islamabad does not release Davis.

US warns to cut Pakistan aid over Davis

Source: Press TV

The US threatens to cut aid to Pakistan unless Islamabad drops murder charges against the American consulate employee who has been imprisoned for murdering two Pakistanis.

US lawmakers threatened that they will consider cutting billions of dollars in military and other aid to Pakistan unless Islamabad frees the US diplomat, identified by police officials as Raymond Davis, the Associated Press reported.

US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday and urged him to release the American.

According to American officials, negotiations involving Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States scheduled to be held at the ministerial level on 24 February may be downgraded to talks among low-ranking officials if Islamabad does not release Davis.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Zardari and Pakistan's army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani about the case.

Islamabad says US diplomats are not allowed to carry weapons in Pakistan.

Reports say that Davis was not a consulate official but an agent for the notorious US security firm, Blackwater.

"We continue to make it clear to the government of Pakistan that our diplomat has diplomatic immunity and in our view was acting in self-defense and should be released," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Monday.

Davis was arrested in the city of Lahore late last month after he shot dead two locals identified as Mohammad Faheem and Faizan Haider.

Mohammad Faheem's wife, Shumaila, committed suicide on Sunday out of sheer frustration that Davis may escape justice considering the US pressure imposed on Islamabad to release him.

The incident has intensified anti-American sentiment in Pakistan leading to hundreds of Pakistanis, including lawyers, human rights groups and political activists rallying in front of the US consulate in Lahore on Monday and chanting anti-US slogans.

'US embassy official Blackwater agent'

People look at the blood stains in a Lahore street after the American cosular killed two Pakistanis on January 27, 2011

Source: Press TV

Pakistani media say the US embassy official charged with the murder of two Pakistani citizens is an agent for the notorious security firm, Blackwater.

The US official identified by police as Raymond Davis shot dead two men riding on a motorcycle in Lahore on Thursday in what he claimed was self-defense during an attempted robbery.

A third Pakistani was run over and killed in the incident after being hit by a US consulate vehicle rushing to the scene to the American's aid.

The US embassy in Islamabad has confirmed the man involved was a consular official and says it is carrying out an investigation.

Trying to avoid an anti-American reaction, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Thursday that Washington will fully cooperate with Pakistani authorities and will explain about the incident to the Pakistani people.

The issue of American diplomats carrying weapons inside Pakistan was a hot-button subject last year among certain politicians and sections of the media purportedly worried about the country's sovereignty.

Many Pakistanis regard the United States with suspicion or outright enmity because of its occupation of neighboring Afghanistan

US official to face trial in Pakistan

Pakistani policemen gather around the car of US consular worker at the police station in Lahore on January 27, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/162362.html

The American employee of the US consulate in Pakistan who is charged with the murder of two locals in Lahore is expected to appear in court on Friday.

"Once we get the report and other documents, we expect to produce the American before a magistrate for possible remand," AFP quoted police investigation officer Muneer Ahmed as saying.

The US official identified by police as Raymond Davis shot dead two men riding on a motorcycle on Thursday in what he claimed was self-defense during an attempt robbery.

A third Pakistani was run over and killed in the incident after being hit by a US consulate vehicle rushing to the American's aid.

Scores of people took to the streets after the incidents in protest, setting tires on fire at the scene, blocking escape by the Americans.

Lahore police Chief Aslam Tareen said the American was being questioned by the police and may be charged with both murder and illegally carrying a weapon, a Beretta pistol.

The US embassy in Islamabad has confirmed the man involved was a consular official and says it is carrying out an investigation.

Trying to avoid an anti-American reaction, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Thursday that Washington will fully cooperate with Pakistani authorities and will explain about the incident to the Pakistani people.

The killing comes as anti-American sentiments are running high in the country.