*
Pakistani government believes Davis has immunity
* Obama urges
Pakistan to release former U.S. soldier
(Adds U.S. State Department comment, paragraphs 6-7, 23-24)
By Chris Allbritton
LAHORE,
Pakistan, Feb 16 (
Reuters) - An American jailed for
shooting two Pakistanis is shielded by diplomatic immunity, a
Pakistani
official said on Wednesday, but local courts are
likely to have the final say in a case that has ignited a
bruising row between two strategic allies.
Despite signals the
Pakistani government is yielding to
U.S. pressure to back the release of consular employee Raymond
Davis, his fate remained unclear as the killings stirred up
fierce anti-U.S. sentiment that could put
Pakistan's unpopular
leadership at risk.
Davis shot dead two Pakistanis last month in what he said
was self-defence during an armed robbery. The
Lahore High Court
will hold another hearing in the case on Thursday, during which
the
United States is expected to present a petition to certify
that Davis has diplomatic immunity and should be released.
But the Pakistani
official said that would not guarantee
his release.
"We will present all relevant laws and rules about immunity
before the court and will plead that prima facie it is a case
of diplomatic immunity. But it is for the court to decide," the
official said on condition of anonymity.
The U.S. State Department said Davis should be released.
"We believe that diplomatic immunity is a fact. From our
standpoint it is not a matter of disupte. It is certainly not a
matter that should be resolved by courts in
Pakistan," State
Department
spokesman P.J. Crowley told a news briefing in
Washington, adding that the
U.S. government would nonetheless
present its arguments in
Lahore.
The row over Davis is the latest issue straining ties
between two nations that are supposed to be working to stamp
out a tenacious Islamist insurgency that has fuelled attacks
against U.S. soldiers in neighbouring
Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama waded into the fray on Tuesday,
saying the
United States was working with
Pakistan, a major
recipient of U.S. aid, to secure the release of the former U.S.
special forces soldier now locked in a
Lahore jail.
'BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE
DEEP BLUE SEA'
The fragile government in
Islamabad, mired in a battle
against militants, struggling with a stagnant economy and
fearful of backlash from its people, appeared to be willing to
go only so far to placate its American allies.
"We are facing difficult decisions. There is a political
price,"
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, speaking at a
religious event in
Islamabad, said on Wednesday.
"If we make one decision, the people won't support it. If
we make another decision, the world doesn't support it. We're
caught between the devil and the
deep blue sea."
Obama sent Senator
John Kerry to
Pakistan to help secure
Davis' release.
Gilani, in a statement released by his office after meeting
Kerry, said the situation could be defused if the United
States, in accordance with Islamic
sharia law, offered blood
money to the families of the slain Pakistanis, and the payment
was accepted.
The issue has become a lightning rod for anti-American
sentiment in
Pakistan, which the
United States counts as an
important, if unreliable, ally in its war against militancy.
While most officials say the court must weigh in, the case
has revealed divisions within the Pakistani establishment.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who until last week was foreign
minister, suggested on Wednesday he may have been kept out of
the government after a recent cabinet shuffle for asserting
Davis did not qualify for blanket diplomatic immunity.
"The question is, whatever happens, will the government be
able to sell it to the public and the family of the victims.
Right now it's a very emotional issue," said
Rifaat Hussain, a
professor at
Quaid-e-Azam University in
Islamabad.
ANOTHER
EGYPT?
In the port city of
Karachi, protesters beat effigies of
Obama and Kerry with shoes.
Imdad Sabir, a
school teacher in
Lahore, said
Pakistan's integrity was at stake.
"If our rulers give (Davis) to the
United States,
Pakistan
will come out onto the streets and protest as people did in
Egypt," he said, referring to the demonstrations that forced
President Hosni Mubarak out of power this month.
Pakistan's al Qaeda-linked
Taliban has warned the
government it will punish any move to release Davis.
The
U.S. Justice Department would conduct a criminal
investigation into the shooting, Kerry said, but it is unclear
whether such a probe would lead to a trial.
The State Department's Crowley voiced hope the case would
not halt the drive for cooperation between the two countries.
"We are committed to build a strong and effective
partnership with
Pakistan and we certainly do not want to have
issues like this distract us from our joint efforts," he said.
Adding to the confusion is the murkiness over Davis' role
at the
U.S. consulate.
Pakistan's Dawn newspaper said the
government will inform the
Lahore High Court that Davis' status
as a member of the consulate's administrative and technical
staff made him eligible for diplomatic immunity.
While consular staff may not qualify for the same immunity
that diplomats get, the
United States says Davis was assigned
to the U.S. embassy in
Islamabad and is therefore covered.
While Pakistani courts are now seen as relatively
independent, former U.S.
ambassador Anne Patterson called the
Lahore court where Davis could be tried "unpredictable and
anti-American" in a 2010 cable revealed by WikiLeaks.
(Additional reporting by
Augustine Anthony and
Zeeshan Haider,
and
Andrew Quinn in
Washington; writing by
Missy Ryan and
Michael Georgy; editing by
Miral Fahmy and
Mohammad Zargham)
(For more
Reuters coverage of
Pakistan, see:
http:/www.
reuters.com/places/
pakistan)
