LAHORE – The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday sought reply until today (Tuesday) from the federal and Punjab governments on four petitions seeking court orders for restraining removing accused Raymond Davis outside the LHC jurisdiction or his possible handing-over to the US on basis of diplomatic immunity.
LHC Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry issued the order while hearing identical petitions filed by Asif Hussain, Muhammad Asghar, Ahmad Masood Gujjar and Iqbal Jaferry. The petitioners said that the arrested American committed a crime in Pakistan and be tried under Pakistani laws and should not be allowed to go back to the US.
They submitted that the federal and Punjab governments might succumb to American pressure and extradite Davis. The petitioners alleged that the arrested US Consulate employee was a FBI agent and a conspiracy was being hatched to send him back to the US. They argued that Davis killed two Pakistanis with bad intentions at the Qurtaba Chowk, Lahore and another innocent citizen was crushed by an US Consulate security van driven by another American official.
The petitioners also requested the court to direct the federal government to place name of the accused on the Exit Control List (ECL) and order an independent judicial inquiry of the incident.
LHC seeks reply on petition challenging Davis’ immunity
