Raymond Davis is a diplomat: Foreign Ministry
LAHORE: The Foreign Ministry has declared Raymond Allen Davis, an American national who murdered two civilians in Lahore, a US diplomat, a private TV channel reported on Tuesday. In a letter, which it wrote to the Interior Ministry, the Foreign Ministry maintained that Raymond Davis was a diplomat who enjoyed immunity under the Vienna Convention. “The letter also states that Raymond Davis was appointed as a diplomat in the US Embassy in Islamabad,” the channel said. daily times monitor
This is a direct copy and paste the Lahore TIMES MONOTOR of Feb. 16, 2011.
Now here is the Wednesday, 16 Feb. 2011 article from the WASHINGTON POST in the US:
Obama raises stakes in Pakistani standoff
By BRADLEY KLAPPER
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 16, 2011; 12:23 AM
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama raised the stakes Tuesday in a tense standoff with Pakistan, insisting that a detained American embassy employee who killed two Pakistanis must be freed and dispatching a high-profile envoy to make the case that Pakistan has much to lose if the case drags on.
Obama insisted the "simple principle" of diplomatic immunity meant that Pakistan must release the 36-year-old U.S. official, Raymond Allen Davis. Davis has been held since the shootings almost three weeks ago.
"If it starts being fair game on our ambassadors around the world, including in dangerous places where we may have differences with those governments ... that's untenable," Obama said at a news conference, his first public remarks on the case. "It means they can't do their job. And that's why we respect these conventions and every country should as well."
The Davis case has become a flashpoint for Pakistani nationalism and anti-American suspicion, making it harder for Pakistani authorities to back down despite intense U.S. pressure.
Thousands have rallied to demand that Davis be hanged and the Taliban have threatened attacks against Pakistani officials involved in freeing the Virginia native.
The disagreement has risked spinning out of control in recent days amid dangerous anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and U.S. threats of stronger Pakistan sanctions. Partly as a punishment, the U.S. over the weekend postponed a major security conference that was scheduled with Afghanistan and Pakistan later this month.
Obama warned that Davis' detention risked further straining relations between the countries, and said local prosecution of a diplomat posed a threat to American diplomacy in general.
Davis was not an ambassador, but the United States has not spelled out his duties.
The United States insists that he carries diplomatic immunity from prosecution just as diplomats and embassy employees of other nations do in the United States.
Obama spoke after sending Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to smooth over relations with Pakistan, whose cooperation is needed to rout insurgents fighting U.S. troops across the border in Afghanistan and al-Qaida fighters hiding in remote frontier zones.
Kerry reached out to Pakistan's government, promising a U.S. criminal investigation into the shooting if Davis is released. He took a softer public stance than many in the administration, expressing regret and acknowledging that such deaths need to be examined.
"It is customary in an incident like this for our government to conduct a criminal investigation. That is our law. And I can give you the full assurance of our government today that that will take place," Kerry told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore, where the shootings occurred. [/QUOTE]
