LAHORE – “There is huge difference between Raymond Davis and Dr Aafia Saddique’s case as Aafia was not a terrorist while Raymond Davis is”, said the families of three young men who died after an American national Raymond Davis opened straight fires in broad daylight couple of days ago.
Raymond Davis should be charged under terrorist sections, the families further demanded while talking to media men during a joint press briefing held at Qartaba Chowk on Wednesday. Dozens of relatives and students of Insaf Student Federation (ISF) gathered at the shooting site in Qartaba Chowk located in Mozang Police precincts.
The protestors were shouting anti American slogans like “hang Davis”, “death to American dogs” and “cruel people be accountable for our blood”. The US consulate employee, identified as Raymond Davis, is under investigation for murder charges of two young motorcyclists whereas a third young man was run over by a vehicle of US consulate that came to rescue Raymond Davis.
On this occasion Sajjad, brother Ibad-ur-Rehman who was killed by the US consulate’s vehicle, said that Raymond Davis trial should be held under the terrorism acts said Sajjad, brother of Ibad-ur-Rehman, who was killed by the US vehicle. He said that they have heard news regarding the swapping of Dr. Afia with Raymond Davis but the cases of both are of different nature as Dr Afia was not a terrorist while Raymond is. He said that Raymond used the weapons openly in public.
He further said that Americans who reached to rescue Raymond Davis aimed guns at general public when they tried to stop the car, which crushed his brother to death. He said that all this falls into acts of terrorism. With wet eyes Sajjad said that their mother still waits for Ibad’s return from his workplace.
He said that his brother loves mobile phones and at the time of mishap he was carrying three mobiles with him, one bag, wallet and keys. He said that policemen have returned key to them. Shahzad, brother in law of Ibad, on this occasion said that investigator have quoted Raymond saying that he does not remembers about the persons who reached the scene to help him. He said that Raymond should be given in police custody physically till he retrieves his memory.
Rasheed, brother in law of Faizan Haider too expressed same view and demanded to charge Raymond Davis under terrisim acts. He further said that the grieving families were dissatisfied with the police investigation adding that the government is deliberately weakening the case against the US citizen and are portraying the victims as robbers. He said that one SP of Lahore Police has declared Faizan and Faheem as robbers only few minutes after the mishap and without initiating any inquiry in the matter.
LHC orders police to record witnesses’ statements: The Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered police on Wednesday to immediately record the statements of witnesses in the case of Raymond Davis who is facing the charges of killing two Pakistanis on January 27. LHC Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry issued these orders while disposing of a writ petition accusing the police for favouring the accused and not recording the statements of the witnesses.
Imran Haider, brother of Faizan Haider who was gunned down by Raymond Davis, had filed the petition saying that the police were favouring the accused in different ways.
