ISLAMABAD: US Senator John Kerry and the US House of Representatives’ Speaker John Boehner have stepped in to secure the release of American national Raymond Davis, currently detained in Lahore for killing two Pakistanis, as the diplomatic row between Islamabad and Washington intensified on Friday after the Lahore Police declared the incident a “cold-blooded murder”, not an act of self-defence.
The US authorities increased pressure on the Pakistani government to provide diplomatic immunity to Davis, as they believe it is now the only chance to get him released after the Pakistani police held him responsible for clear and intentional murder.
Sensing the gravity of situation, US Senator John Kerry, who not only enjoys immense clout in the American ruling circles, but also has close ties with top authorities in Islamabad, on Thursday met the Pakistani Ambassador in Washington Hussain Haqqani and asked for Davis’ release. This demand was repeated by American speaker, John Boehner, who also had a meeting with Haqqani.
A diplomatic source said that the piece of advice from Senator Kerry and American speaker was that the row over Davis could lead to deep negative impact on the ties between Islamabad and Washington and as Davis enjoyed diplomatic immunity, he must be set free without any further delay. The source said the fate of Davis now hinged upon the diplomatic immunity that was supposed to be declared by the Foreign Office, now headed by Hina Rabbani Khar who replaced Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday. “A very tough situation for Khar, who is seemingly novice in the arena of foreign affairs and Qureshi, despite all his anger and anguish for being shown the door, must be somewhat relieved as he fully realises the serious fallout of supervising the whole process of granting immunity to an American who is disdained and hated across the country,” the diplomat said. He said the buzz in the ruling circles was that the Makhdoom from Multan was asked to relinquish the portfolio of foreign minister after he was blamed for assuring the Americans that Davis would be set free only in a matter of hours after he was arrested in Lahore on January 27.
