US Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry has urged Pakistan to release a US Consulate employee who shot dead two Pakistani citizens last month.
The US senator met with Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani as well as Interior Minister Rehman Malik over the issue on Wednesday.
Kerry said on Wednesday that Washington and Islamabad are signatories of Vienna Convention of the 1961which “creates diplomatic immunity” and urged Pakistan to abide by the rule.
The US has boosted pressure on Islamabad over the detention of the man identified as Raymond Davis and has threatened to withhold 1.5 billions of dollars in military and other assistance to the Asian country if it does not set Davis free.
More doubts were raised when the US State Department initially announced that Raymond Davis is an “incorrect name” despite all the official documents he was carrying under this name.
Pakistani police have pressed charges of espionage against Davis, saying he is an employee of the notorious US security firm Xe/Blackwater, working in Pakistan under the cover of the so-called war on terror.
The case has exposed divisions among Pakistani officials. Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was forced to leave office after he allegedly refused to declare Davis as a diplomat.
Qureshi highlighted the significance of an “honorable and dignified way” of dealing with the problem and stressed that “dignity of Pakistan and its people” should be protected.
But Fauzia Wahab, a senior member of the Pakistan People's Party, said on Tuesday that the US national enjoys diplomatic immunity.
The case has flared the anti-US sentiments in Pakistan to an all-time high, particularly after the wife of one of the victims committed suicide over fears the murderer may not be brought to justice.
Why Fauzia wahab is trying to protect that alleged rather it would be more appropriate to say 'Criminal'? What our Government is doing on this issue? nothing but sleeping and trying to give full support to Davis - "The Criminal" under the pressure of US Government. What role can we play on this issue is a point to ponder upon.
I would appreciate and warmly welcome expert opininos and suggestions of all readers.
