Legal experts say courts will decide immunity issue
Updated at 1145 PST Sunday, January 30, 2011
By Usman Manzoor
ISLAMABAD: There might be immense pressure on Pakistan Government to release the American who killed three Pakistanis in Lahore on Thursday but Raymond Davis could only be saved from the long arm of the law if the president pardons him after the due process is completed, experts of international law say.
Former Advocate General of Sindh Barrister Farogh Naseem while talking to The News said there is no diplomatic immunity for the American killer but if immunity is claimed by either the US embassy or even by Pakistan government, a court will have to decide to grant it or not.
He mentioned that Raymond Davis was not a diplomat covered under the Vienna Conventions therefore he can not claim any immunity.
"The only thing that can save Davis is a presidential pardon available to the President of Pakistan under article 45 of the constitution," the barrister said.
He mentioned that immunity could only be claimed when a diplomat does something while performing his diplomatic duties whereas neither Davis was a diplomat nor he had killed in Lahore as part of his duty.
He said that if the American claims that he shot three persons dead in self-defence then it is for the court to decide whether the act was done in self-defence and was proportionate to the threat.
Naseem mentioned that law does not accept that if a person punches someone and receives a bullet in return as self-defence because self-defence has to be proportionate to the attack. He asked if a Pakistani ambassador, who is fully covered under the Vienna Conventions, can claim immunity after killing someone publicly in London or in Washington.
Ahmer Bilal Sufi, another expert in international law, said that when the staffer of a consulate has been arrested then the domestic law, Diplomatic and Counsellor Privileges Act 1972 applies which means the court will decide about his immunity.
He said that the status of a diplomat is clearly defined when any person is sent in any embassy either as a diplomatic agent or a counsellor staff. For counsellor staff, diplomatic immunity is not absolute. Sufi said if Pakistan government wants to set the American free, even then the courts will have to decide.
The London based Association of Pakistani Lawyers (APL), a team of Pakistani origin lawyers, solicitors, barristers, and judges in UK expressed its concerns on the extra-judicial killing of at least three people by a foreigner, Raymond Davis, in Lahore.
In a statement issued on Saturday APL sought justice for the Pakistani citizens killed by the US mission employee and urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the Govt of Pakistan to ensure that there is no miscarriage of justice.
"This is the biggest test of the current civil administration since its election on February 2008.
If they are negligent, it will pave way for a huge public outcry akin to Tunisia and Egypt which will have the potential to smash all those who stand between justice, fair play, equality and the free implementation of the law of the land," the statement said.
APL reminded that no leniency was shown in the case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui and the US law of the land prevailed so in this case stern action must be ensured against the perpetrators to avoid public outrage.
APL observed that criminals must be treated as criminals not as "Pakistani" criminals and or "US" criminals.
