WASHINGTON – US President Barack Obama urged Pakistan on Tuesday to free a detained US official, while insisting that he was not “callous” about the deadly shooting that led to the US employee’s arrest. In his first public remarks on a case that has cast a chill over an already uneasy partnership, Obama said detained US citizen Raymond Davis enjoyed diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Conventions.
“We expect Pakistan… to abide by the same convention,” Obama told a news conference. “We’re going to be continuing to work with the Pakistani government to get this person released,” he said. “Obviously, we’re concerned about the loss of life. We’re not callous about that, but there is a broader principle at stake,” Obama said.
Obama said diplomatic immunity was critical because otherwise diplomats who “deliver tough messages to countries where we disagree with them” will “start being vulnerable to prosecution locally”. “That’s untenable. It means they can’t do their job,” Obama said.
