Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Senator Kerry Attempts Damage Control Over Davis Murders

Kerry: US, Pakistan need to move past Davis case

Associated Press 

Most legal experts in Pakistan's government believe an American detained in the killing of two Pakistanis has diplomatic immunity, but a court should decide his fate, an official said Tuesday. The announcement reflected an apparent bid to open the way to the man's release while dampening public outrage.

Raymond Allen Davis has been held by Pakistani authorities since he fatally shot two Pakistanis in the eastern city of Lahore on Jan. 27, and his case has become a bitter point of contention between Washington and Islamabad, whose relationship is considered key to ending the war in Afghanistan.

The U.S. says Davis, a former Special Forces soldier and an embassy worker, shot in self-defense when two armed men on a motorcycle tried to rob him and that his detention is illegal under international agreements covering diplomats. U.S. officials have threatened to withhold billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan unless Davis is freed.

U.S. pressure increased Tuesday, with President Barack Obama calling for Davis' immediate release and Sen. John Kerry arriving in Pakistan to discuss the case with senior Pakistani officials.
Pakistani government officials had avoided a definitive stand on Davis' legal status in the face of popular anger over the shootout. Thousands have rallied against Davis, demanding he be hanged, while the Taliban have threatened attacks against any Pakistani official involved in freeing the 36-year-old Virginia native.

It hasn't helped that the government of Punjab province, where any trial would be held, is run by a party that is a rival to the one running the federal government.

Aslam Tareen, police chief in Lahore, Punjab's capital, declared last week that a police investigation determined Davis had committed "an intentional and cold-blooded murder."

Police officers determined the pistol of one of the slain men was loaded but no round was in the chamber, and that the American shot the second Pakistani in the back, killing him as he tried to flee, Tareen said.

However, a Pakistani federal government official told The Associated Press on Tuesday that after reviewing the matter, most experts in Pakistan's legal and foreign offices believe Davis is immune from prosecution. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.
The government is expected to give documents laying out the opinions to the Lahore High Court during a hearing about Davis' status on Thursday.

The Pakistan government has said it will abide by whatever the courts decide on Davis' immunity.
"It will only be decided by the courts and we will follow the verdict," Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan told the state news service. Awan said the Davis case had to be handled carefully because of its potential to affect relations with the United States.

The Obama administration asked Kerry to make the trip amid the deterioration in relations between Washington and Islamabad over the Davis case, according to a Congressional official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the visit publicly.

The official said Kerry did not go to bring Davis back to the U.S. and there was no expectation that he would do so because the Pakistanis have made clear that Davis will not be released in the short term, or at least until the court case against him is resolved.

Kerry "is there to tone down the rhetoric and reaffirm our partnership," the official said.
U.S. officials in Islamabad declined to comment on the Pakistani government's plans. In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley has said the U.S. on Thursday "will present a petition to the court to certify that (Davis) has diplomatic immunity and that he should be released."

Nonetheless, Crowley said the courts should not be involved in accordance with the Vienna Convention regarding the status of diplomats.

There has also been controversy in Pakistan over the fact that Davis was armed. A senior U.S. official has told The Associated Press that Davis was authorized by the United States to carry a weapon, but that it was a "gray area" whether Pakistani law permitted him to do so.

The U.S. has not stated specifically what Davis' job is, other than saying he's a part of the embassy's "administrative and technical staff," which leaves room for the possibility that he works in security.

Davis was shown on Pakistani TV telling police that he was a consultant for the U.S. consulate in Lahore and that he worked for the RAO — an apparent reference to the Americans' Regional Affairs Office.

The U.S. Embassy says Davis has a diplomatic passport and a visa valid through June 2012, and that Pakistan was notified of Davis' assignment more than a year ago.

After the shootings in Lahore, Davis called for backup. The American car rushing to the scene hit a third Pakistani, a bystander, who later died.

Crowley, the State Department spokesman, said Monday that U.S. Embassy staff were in the vehicle. Pakistani police have said they want to question the car's driver and passengers as well, though it is highly unlikely those staffers — especially if U.S. citizens — are still in Pakistan.

Carmela Conroy, the U.S. consul general in Lahore, said Davis has been treated well but has not received special favors. "He is being held under the same conditions as a Pakistani would be, in such a high-security facility. He sleeps on a foam mattress on a concrete pad," Conroy said in a statement. He has no access to television, telephone, the Internet or electronic devices, she said.

2 comments:

  1. Top-secret CIA documents show that Raymond Allen Davis (born 02 Oct 1974) was providing nuclear fissile material and biological agents to groups of terrorists, killers and bombers hired by the USA government officials to destabilise Pakistan. Davis was employed by the American under cover agencies, but this information is still withheld on the gag orders of American politicians and NWO-PNAC fans. The documents show Davis had links with the terrorists, working on the CIA’s plan to sabotage, destabilise and disarm Pakistan. Davis also worked for American Task Force 373 (TF373), Blackwater XE, DynaCorp and other under cover American agencies still operating in Pakistan. TF373 (Delta Force) is assigned to hire locals (Orange Force) to plant bombs in Pakistan, destabilise and leave the country without adequate defense. This is an uncompromising national security issue in Pakistan.
    Davis does not have diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution in Pakistan. Davis killed two men in Lahore on 27 Jan 2011. Eyewitnesses and police probes prove that the two murders were not in self defence. However, undue pressure (blackmails) by the US senator John Kerry (chairman of senate committee for foreign affairs and an ex-president candidate) has ‘convinced’ Pakistan government officials and politicians to provide forged diplomatic immunity documents to the courts in the country.

    American politicians don’t want Davis to face the music for his crimes in Pakistan.
    American politicians want Davis to evade justice because the court trial in Pakistan would open Pandora’s Box and set a precedent for future prosecutions. The trials would expose other American misdeeds in Pakistan and elsewhere. Pakistan courts have the right to rule on the criminal case without any fear or favour, blackmails, threats, economic sanctions and political pressures. Allowing Davis to evade justice and get away with the murders would lead to a revolution or uprising in Pakistan. The courts would become laughing stock if they don’t detect the forgeries or if they cave in.

    Davis must be released only after his trials and conviction and only when American politicians:
    a) close down all covert operations in Pakistan;
    b) stop illegal drone attacks forever; and
    c) write off $60 billion debts, etc.

    In order to avert popular uprising and reduce terrorism, Pakistan must expel all American members of Delta Force (CIA-Pentagon, XE-Blackwater, Dynacorp etc) from the country immediately, prosecute and convict their hired Orange Force mercenaries (local paid bombers and killers); Seal Afghan-Pak border; stop the NWO American-NATO-PNAC terror supply line between Pakistan and Afghanistan…

    Would that help stop false flags, and bring down or undo the PNAC’s American empire, without a long trillion dollar war, lies and war crimes?

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  2. Great summary of what is being left out by U.S. Press. Thanks!

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