Opinion Printline Pakistan

Davis was acquitted in the double murder case lodged against him for gunning down two men in Lahore earlier this year. Daily Times reported on March 17 that he was let off after “the victims’ families received blood money to the tune of Rs 200 million. The judge first indicted Davis for double murder and later acquitted him as he was pardoned by the 19 legal heirs on the payment of diyat.” The families have also apparently been granted permanent US visas.

While the acquittal is in accordance with the Shariah law in Pakistan,it has ruffled many feathers. Dawn reported that a petition challenging Davis’s release was filed in the Lahore high court on Thursday. The petitioner complained that the families of the victims were pressured by the government to pardon Davis and thus the law had been violated. The petitioner requested the court to invalidate the acquittal and proceed against “those who brought about Davis’s release”. Davis was reportedly flown out of Pakistan shortly after his release.

An interesting twist to the saga was reported by The Express Tribune: “The federal and provincial governments and the intelligence agencies had been working since February 21 to ensure Davis’s release through the Qisas and Diyat laws… Three weeks ago,the interior ministry sought the particulars of the family members of the men Davis shot so it could contact them and prepare their passports… PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had assured US senator John Kerry when he visited Pakistan in mid-February that even if the federal government did not produce documents in the Lahore high court showing Davis’s diplomatic immunity,the Punjab government would help get the CIA contractor pardoned through the payment of Diyat. The sources said that the federal and provincial governments and the country’s intelligence agencies all agreed on one thing: that Davis must be released via the courts through the payment of Diyat to minimise the public uproar at his release. They said that they had made a secret agreement on February 21 to facilitate the release of Davis in this manner. Around this time,the US authorities also began preparing to fulfil the formalities regarding compensation and visas,the sources said.”

In an angry editorial,The News viewed the Davis affair as revealing a structural weakness in Pakistan-US diplomacy: “Is our sovereignty so compromised that it is within the rules of engagement for CIA stringers such as Davis that they are permitted to carry and discharge weapons in the street… The shambolic issuance of visas to Americans without any… background clearance was an invitation to abuse the system… The Davis affair was a textbook example of how not to conduct diplomacy — by both sides.”

Taking stock of the situation,The Express Tribune said: “That Raymond Davis would eventually be released was inevitable. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you and Pakistan,unfortunately,has been feeding from the American trough for far too long. Davis’s release was a good idea for two reasons: legalistic and practical.”

Also interesting was US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement on the Davis saga,reported by The News on March 18: “‘The US did not pay any compensation or blood money,’ Clinton told reporters in Cairo. Asked who paid the families,she replied: ‘You’ll have to ask the families. Asked if the Pakistani government had paid compensation,she said: ‘You’ll have to ask the Pakistani government’.”

State for a nation

Dawn reported on March 14 that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani promised to incorporate in the PPP’s next election manifesto the creation of a Seraiki state. The Seraiki language is spoken in southern Punjab bordering Sindh,and this belt is the pocket borough of the PPP. Gilani himself hails from the region and speaks the language. Daily Times reported on March 15 that with this announcement,the PPP has found support from the rival PML-Q. A new state carved out of Punjab helps both the parties because it takes away from the PML-N’s pie in Punjab.