US Pressurizes Pakistan Over Detained American
Pakistani security officials escort Raymond Allen Davis, a U.S. consulate employee, center, to a local court in Lahore
US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter met with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday and pressed him to release Davis. That meeting and recent US press statements have indicated growing frustration with an ally considered key to ending the conflict in Afghanistan. Pakistan risks looking like an American lackey if it caves into demands to free Davis. But it’s also a risk to ignore the US, which provides it with billions of dollars in military and other aid.
Federal officials say Davis’ fate is up to courts in Punjab province, while provincial officials say the federal government must inform them whether Davis has immunity and has not done so. The two governments are controlled by rival political parties, which further complicates the matter. Davis shot the two men Jan. 27 in the eastern city of Lahore. A third Pakistani, a bystander, died when a car rushing to back Davis up struck him. Police have said they want to question the Americans suspected in that death as well. Clinton spoke with Zardari by phone last week about the diplomat’s case and also raised it with Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on the sidelines of an international security conference in Germany at the weekend, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. “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-defence and should be released,” Crowley said Monday. The wife of one of the men who Davis shot committed suicide on Sunday, explaining beforehand that she feared her husband’s killer would be freed without trial. Her death further inflamed anti-American sentiment.
-HT
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