LAHORE – The wife of one of two Pakistani motorcyclists shot dead by American Raymond Davis has committed suicide, police said. Davis was arrested on January 27 after shooting dead Faheem and Faizan, claiming he acted in self-defence fearing the pair were about to rob him.
A third Pakistani was knocked down and killed by a vehicle from the US Consulate in Lahore that tried to rescue Davis. The American was arrested by police and a case of double murder registered against him. “Mohammad Faheem’s wife Shumaila took poisonous pills this morning and she was taken to Allied Hospital” in Faisalabad city, local police chief Usman Anwar told AFP. Hospital doctor Ali Naqi confirmed the suicide attempt.
Faheem’s brother Mohammad Waseem told AFP that Shumaila, 18, was plunged into a “severe depression” by her husband’s death. She took the pills before dawn and was rushed to the hospital early Sunday, he said. The incident has sparked fury in Pakistan, where anti-Americanism is rampant, stirred by Washington’s alliance with an unpopular government, the war in Afghanistan and US missile attacks targeting Islamists in the northwest.
Washington says its employee belongs to its US embassy’s “technical administrative staff” and is therefore entitled to “full criminal immunity”. Meanwhile, Punjab government’s spokesman Pervaiz Rasheed said court decisions could never be influenced by suicides and asked the people to trust the law and justice system, which would prevail at all cost.
Taking to Pakistan Today, he said Shamiala’s suicide was a sorrowful incident, but justice had to take its course. To a query, he said if Shumaila had some doubts over the investigation, she should have contacted the Punjab government.
