“Raymond Davis has no diplomatic visa, therefore, the US’ claim of criminal immunity is invalid,” the sources said, adding as per the Blue Book of the Foreign Office, Davis had no diplomatic card.
Meanwhile, the US Embassy, which has been making claims that Davis is diplomat and is entitled to blanket criminal diplomatic immunity, is closely monitoring the situation. “We are waiting for the Lahore High Court’s decision,” US Embassy’s official spokesperson told The Nation when asked whether there were any senior US government officials planning unscheduled visit to Pakistan either on Sunday or Monday.
The sources in the government said that hectic process inter-ministerial consultations continued among the ministries of foreign affairs, interior and law, justice and human rights over the legal natty gritty of the case. “It is a very complex and sensitive case, therefore, it needed special attention and legal analysis,” the sources said.
The sources said that ministry of foreign affairs had not addressed the question of certification of diplomatic status to Raymond Davis in exclusivity but had given its input over four different private petitions filed in the Lahore High Court including with regard to issue of immunity.“The question of immunity under Vienna Convention 1961 does not provide immunity in case of Raymond Davis. Such a concession stands automatically removed in grave criminal cases as of Raymond Davis,” a legal expert privy to these developments observed. He was of the view that Davis had committed cold-blooded murder of two persons in the daylight and in an open bazaar without any reason.
In a related devolvement, Pakistani security agencies continued manhunt for more than fifty other Americans who are believed to have been operating their spy nets on the back of national spy agencies. Investigations also revealed that Davis had also been operating a spy network and had been calibrating with other people since his arrival in Pakistan. Davis, who had worked previously on contract as a security officer for Xe Services, a controversial private contractor formerly known as Blackwater, killed two Pakistanis in Lahore on January 27.
The Lahore episode, involving 36-year-old Davis, has stressed the already uneasy relations between the United States and Pakistan, which have been battling terrorists in the region together for almost ten years.
