The tussle between the US and Pakistan over the fate of a jailed diplomat intensified as he was formally charged with murder even as Washington said it would plead before the jury that the official had diplomatic immunity. Rejecting Raymond Davis' claim that he shot two men in self-defence, the prosecution filed a 'challan' (chargesheet) in the court of a district and sessions judge, formally charging him with murder of two Pakistanis in Lahore.
The Taliban on Monday warned the Pakistan government not to release American national Raymond Davis, who allegedly shot dead two men in Lahore in January, saying any official involved in a move to free him would be killed by militants. "Any Pakistani government official playing any role in Davis' release will be killed by the Taliban," said Azam Tariq, spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The Taliban have also demanded that Davis should be executed by the authorities.
The kind of blanket immunity Washington is pressing for (US official Raymond) Davis is not endorsed by the official record of the Foreign Ministry," said Qureshi, who declined to join Pakistan's new cabinet last week after he was not reallocated the foreign affairs portfolio.
The controversy over the killing of two Pakistanis by a United States consulate employee in Lahore took a new turn on Monday with a media report stating that the dead men were believed to be "intelligence operatives".
The suspension of military aid to Pakistan is America's cumulative reaction to a series of events beginning with the Raymond Davis affair and ending with the killing of Al Qaeda's Osama bin Laden. The message to Islamabad is clear that duplicity in the war against terror will not be tolerated. But experts feel that being well aware of Pakistan's importance, the US has only temporarily cut off aid, which will be restored after a decent interval.
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl has blamed the Raymond Davis network for the two suicide attacks on party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, and said the murder attempts were a reaction to Fazl's stand taken on the Davis detention issue and drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal region.
Pakistan's fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party has announced it will provide financial aid of Rs 3 lakh to the families of the three men killed in an incident involving suspected Central Intelligence Agency contractor Raymond Davis. This is in a bid to forestall reported efforts by Saudi Arabia to arrange a "blood money" deal to settle the matter.
In a setback to the United States' efforts to seek early release of its national Raymond Davis, who was arrested for double murder, a Pakistani court on Thursday rejected his claim that he has diplomatic immunity and said it would go ahead with his trial. During the last hearing of the case, 37-year-old Davis, a suspected Central Intelligence Agency contractor, had filed an application in which he insisted that he had immunity.
What unfolded on the streets of Cairo over the last few weeks could happen in Pakistan as well if the United States does not handle the Raymond Davis case more sensitively, warns senior analyst B Raman.
In what could come as a setback to American efforts to seek early release of arrested Central Intelligence Agency contractor Raymond Davis, a Pakistani court on Monday declined to rule on his diplomatic status and moved the matter to a lower court which is already conducting his trial on murder charges. 36-year-old Davis was arrested in Lahore on January 27 after he shot and killed two armed men he claimed were trying to rob him.
The ball is in the Central Intelligence Agency's court if it wants to take its relationship with the Inter-Services Intelligence agency back to the level it was prior to the arrest of United States security contractor Raymond Davis for gunning down two Pakistani men, according to a media report.
United States official Raymond Davis, who was arrested on charges of gunning down two men in Lahore, is a CIA agent. This may complicate US efforts to seek the release of Davis, who claimed that he fired in self-defence when the two men attempted to rob him.Davis was engaged in espionage and surveillance activities. The Pakistani government was aware of Davis's CIA status but had kept quiet in the face of intense US pressure.
The US national identified as Raymond Davis, a member of the staff at the American consulate opened fire after two armed men riding a motorcycle pulled up alongside his car at a traffic light in the Mozang area of Lahore, city police chief Aslam Tareen said.
Against the backdrop of the arrest and humiliating treatment meted out to a senior Indian diplomat, a former Pakistani diplomat to the United States has cautioned the American law enforcers to be sensitive towards the global realities on how they treat foreign diplomats in the country.
Pakistani religious parties have offered blood money to the family of slain Punjab governor Salman Taseer to pardon his killer.
Aziz said that Pakistan-US relations had come to a standstill in 2011 because of incidents of WikiLeaks, Raymond Davis, Abbottabad operation, Datta Khel and Salala.
Pakistan on Friday made it clear that it will not "extradite" alleged Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav and said that more information on him has been sought from India.
Noting that Pakistan's Prime Minister-elect Nawaz Sharif appears to be sincere in his effort to improve relationship with India, a former top American diplomat has said he might not be able to do much unless he brings on board the powerful military.
'If at all,' says Suhasini Haidar, Foreign Affairs Editor, CNN-IBN, 'Devyani Khobragade is to avoid facing a full trial, the process of that negotiation must start immediately, for which the current acrimonious atmosphere must be improved. It is no more than the US was willing to do for Raymond Davis; the Italian government for its sailors; and India for Captain Sunil James and Vijayan in Togo. Devyani Khobragade is not accused of charges anywhere as serious they were, and whether Preet Bharara's office recognises it or not, she is a diplomat who represents a proud country that has taken the insult to her as a personal insult to the country.'
The American media, which demanded action by the Obama administration when a junior consular staff was detained in Lahore for killing two men, has attacked the Indian government for siding with its diplomat after her arrest and ill-treatment.
'They bluff and lie repeatedly and we swallow their lies.' 'Because we are soft and polite, we get into a mess of our own making.'
Is Devyani Khobragade's arrest connected to India detaining an anti-piracy ship owned by a US security firm, asks Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
'If there's one administration that would be likely to put the squeeze on Pakistan, it's the Trump administration.' 'This is an administration that views terrorists as a black and white issue (kill them all, no questions asked), and will have little patience for Pakistan's selective policy toward terrorism.'
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