Shah Mahmood Qureshi has thrown a spanner in the governments works. That is, if it really wanted to give a certificate of total immunity to Raymond Davis. The Foreign Ministry has immediately dismissed what it called media speculation, which was in fact a story leaked out by an official, that it had already confirmed Raymond Davis right to total immunity. The Ministry is, however, at a loss over what stand to take now. With Qureshi stating categorically that officials of the FO, Interior Ministry and concerned departments had unanimously given the opinion that Davis did not enjoy blanket immunity, the US demand that Davis be freed without trial cannot be fulfilled. Despite President Obamas urging and the mission undertaken by Sen Kerry, there is no likelihood of the accused being free anytime soon.
Many believe that if the statement by President Obama expressing regrets over the killings of Pakistanis and the promise by Sen Kerry to try Davis in the US had come sooner after the incident, they could have had a positive impact in Pakistan. What happened instead was an unending reiteration of the demand to release the killer urgently which hurt the Pakistanis as did the refusal to hand over the driver of the vehicle that killed a motorcyclist while rushing to Davis rescue. The US presumably failed to realise that only a dictator could carry out its directives blindly. With an elected government facing a raucous opposition and watched by a judiciary keen to assert its newly acquired independence, an act of the sort is not possible.
To paraphrase the prime minister, the government is between the devil and deep blue sea here. If its lets Davis go, it faces the wrath of the public. If it doesnt, it faces retribution from the international community, the US in particular. Despite the complicity of all relevant state institutions in the drone attacks, which yield far more Pakistani casualties, the Davis issue in particular has somehow turned everyone into a hypernationalist. There is a difference between the incumbent ruling party and the permanent structure of the state of Pakistan. This is no issue for politicking. The need of the hour is for both the treasury and opposition benches to get together, thrash out a solution and then sell it, in a manner of speaking, to both the public and the international community.
