Raymond Davis opens up about time in Pakistan

—Prosecution only focused on the issue of diplomatic immunity

Raymond Davis, code name Crossbones, in his book ‘The Contractor: How I landed in a Pakistani Prison and Ignited a Diplomatic Crisis’ claims that how his case was turned into whether or not he had diplomatic immunity regardless of the fact his killers too had guns and the murder was in self-defense.

He said he had made several trips to Pakistan before and he has been issued a new diplomatic passport in 2012 when his old passport got expired in 2010. He wrote that the US Statement Department had informed Pakistan of his assignment back in 2010, but it had failed to satisfy Pakistan in reply when asked. “..The State Department failed to do—evidently, this was part of the “sloppy recordkeeping” to which Ambassador Munter was referring—Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to issue me a diplomatic accreditation card, citing the “unresolved queries” his office had made about me. With this essential, which defines one’s exact role at an embassy or consulate, my status remained unclear.”

Raymond Davis further notes that how easy it was for the US diplomats to get a visa for Pakistan. “For a US government official or contractor to get a visa into Pakistan, the request only had to be approved the Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, who had lived in Pakistan since 2002 and was generally viewed as being pro-America.”

The Raymond Davis case had left US foreign policy in a lurch. The dilemma of diplomatic immunity to Raymond Davis remained a mystery. Davis in his book claimed he had been given diplomatic passport; putting the blame of it on ‘sloppy recordkeeping’.

He also mentions how then-President Asif Zardari and then-Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani were almost willing to help but the “Cambridge-educated” Shah Mehmood Qureshi, then-foreign affairs minister, refused to deter on the issue.

“When Kerry flew to Pakistan on February 15, 2011, to attempt to broker a deal that might spring me from the Lahore prison where I was being detained on judicial remand, Qureshi didn’t act like much of a friend. Rather than giving in to the government’s wish that I be granted diplomatic immunity, he’d actually resigned his position three days after the incident at Mozang Chowk, and two weeks later he remained undeterred. In a meeting of top Pakistani officials, both President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani tried to convince Qureshi to change his hardline stance, but Qureshi let it be known in a press conference the following day that he wasn’t going to budge.”

 ISI-CIA

Davis said there were tensions between CIA and ISI but his case had further escalated them.

“Before Kerry’s visit of Feb 15, General Pasha had flown to Washington and asked CIA’s Panetta point-blank if I worked for the CIA. Panetta responded that I didn’t and that the State Department, not the CIA, was handling the matter. Pasha was angered by the Panetta response….and grew more so [angry] after… knowing exact nature of my job….he was happy to let me remain in jail until an acceptable solution to this…could be found.”

After the meeting, Pasha was of the opinion that getting Davis out of Pakistan was better for both countries, Davis recalled. And General Kiani-Mike Mullen meeting was also hinted that resolution of this problem seemed more likely, he said.