ISLAMABAD – President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday told a US Congressional delegation that the courts would decide the fate of Raymond Davis, the US national detained for killing two Pakistanis in Lahore, as the visiting American lawmakers pressed for his release.
A six-member delegation of US Congress called on President Zardari and demanded the release of Davis, reiterating the American stance on the issue that what the American national did was in self defence. However, the president said it would be prudent to wait for the legal course to be completed. President’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said Zardari “appreciated” the Congressmen’s concern and said, “The matter is already in court.”
The delegation included Representatives Darell El Issa, Todd R Platts, Jason Chaffetz, Stephen F Lynch, Brian M Higgins and Raul L Labrador. The US embassy in Islamabad had also requested Davis’ immediate release, saying he was one of its employees and entitled to diplomatic immunity. Pakistan’s Foreign Office has, however, rebuffed the US claim about Davis, saying he was serving as a “functionary” at the US embassy before he was arrested in Lahore after killing two Pakistanis.
In a significant related development, General David Petreaus, commander of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, who called on Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Kayani on Monday at the General Headquarters, also raised the issue of Davis’ detention. “General Kayani told the senior US commander that the matter was in court and the legal process initiated in the wake of the Lahore incident must be respected,” an official said, wishing not to be named.
A Pakistani diplomat, who sought anonymity, said Pakistani authorities had been trying hard to impress upon the US officials to wait for the completion of the investigation and legal process and stop exerting pressure for the release of Davis, as it could prove counter-productive.
He said, “We are telling them (Americans) that it is our right to know what led to the happening of gory incident in which three Pakistani nationals lost their lives in Lahore and also what Davis was doing there at that particular day apart from determination of veracity of claim by the US embassy about Davis’s diplomatic status and his entitlement to immunity.”
