Last week, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir famously said that one man should not be allowed to destroy more than 60 years of US-Pakistan relations.
He was referring to Raymond Davis — assuming that is really the name of the American — currently, facing the court of law in Lahore for the murder of two Pakistani citizens, which the city’s top cops have, based on their findings, concluded was not in self defence as given to believe by the US national.
A third innocent citizen on a motorbike was also killed as a result of reckless driving by a US Consulate car called for help by Davis, when the vehicle was driven on the wrong side of the road.
Complicating matters was the death by suicide of the distraught wife of one of the two Pakistani citizens killed by Davis because she felt she wouldn’t get justice and that the American killer would eventually be released by her government.
The central plank in this intriguing drama is the hotly contested provision or lack of diplomatic immunity subscribed to the American killer. It hasn’t helped at all that the US embassy initially, described Davis as technical staff of the Consulate but later demanded his immediate release with claims of diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention.
For its part, Islamabad didn’t clear the air until long — giving rise to speculation that a grand cover-up was in the works to eventually, free the American even as both the federal government and the administration in Punjab, Pakistan’s strategically powerful province ruled by Shahbaz Sharif, brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, tried to skirt the issue.
However, when the court intervened and twice gave judicial remand of the American, it emboldened both the Centre and the provincial administration to stand up to Washington, which however continues to ratchet up intense heat with stern calls from President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to free Davis with reportedly, threats of punitive action in the event of failure to do so.
Not only did Clinton scupper a meeting in Munich with Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who, as a consequence, did not travel to Switzerland. Qureshi then lost his job as foreign minister in a cabinet reshuffle purportedly, for refusing her demand for Davis’ release and daring to disclose to the media that the American, in fact, does not enjoy diplomatic immunity.
Since then Washington has also postponed a trilateral summit with Islamabad and Kabul in a move seen by critics as the first real sign of rupture. There are also reports that if the American, who has been barred by the court from leaving Pakistan before a verdict is released on his fate, Washington would stop financial aid to Islamabad.
However, it is the controversial exit of Qureshi that has hogged the limelight in Pakistan, and it has the potential to ignite the fuse given the popular perception that he resolutely withstood Washington’s onslaught but refused to bow on a matter of principle.
Qureshi said as much in his farewell speech at the Foreign Office last week.
The suave former foreign minister, whose son works at the office of Democratic Senator John Kerry, revealed that despite friendly ties with Secretary Clinton, he had refused her demand for declaring immunity for Davis and chose to sacrifice personal interest for his country.
But what has got the goat of ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is that Qureshi chose to air the fact about Davis’s non-diplomatic status at a time when Islamabad was under immense pressure to deliver and the now-resigned Interior Minister Rehman Malik had belatedly claimed that the American did have a diplomatic visa, which he had allowed after a thorough investigation by the intelligence agencies pertaining to his credentials.
The public sentiment at this late assertion is one of disbelief and fueled anger at the government.
However, PPP’s inner circle ridicules the theory surrounding Qureshi’s denial of diplomatic status for Davis as the cause for his removal from the federal cabinet.
Sources within the party say he has been shown the door since he was toeing the line of Aabpara, a euphemism for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which reportedly, earned him the unflattering sobriquet of “Mr Aabpara?
Qureshi refused the portfolio of water and power ministry in the reshuffle that saw him lose his job as foreign minister. In fact, he was so miffed at the decision that he did not even turn up at the swearing-in ceremony at the President House, which annoyed the president.
Subsequently, a slew of former and current federal ministers as well as the party’s information secretary launched a severe attack on Qureshi in what was seen as a scripted move.
Noticeably, those heaping scorn on Qureshi — now an increasingly familiar practice against those offering a dissenting note within the ruling party — were loyalists, who do not compare in terms of the stature and calibre of political giants like Qureshi.
But as well as endearing Qureshi to the people, who are greatly turned off by arrogant American attitude and allegations of acquiescence of their own government, the latest crisis is likely to make things even more difficult for Islamabad.
Already there are signs of fissures within the party with embarrassingly divergent views on what the government thinks about the status of Davis.
At a news conference in Karachi, PPP Secretary Information Fauzia Wahab said: “We have always abided by international laws and conventions. The Vienna Convention grants diplomatic immunity to diplomatic as well as technical staff?
She said under the Pakistani law — PLD 1972 — all diplomats enjoyed immunity and that Davis had an official business visa before controversially questioning “why argue and risk the overall good reputation before the rest of the world?”
Wahab stressed the need for maintaining good relations with the US, saying: “America is the largest market for Pakistan. Most Pakistanis, who live in the US, send bulk of remittances to us to support our economy.”
Within two hours of Wahab’s statement, Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for the president, disowned it.
“The position of PPP on the issue of Raymond Davis is unambiguous. The issue is before the court and it is imprudent to comment on it before the court’s verdict,” Babr said before declaring
Wahab’s statement was “neither PPP policy nor government policy.”
lThe writer is a freelance journalist based in Islamabad and can be reached at kaamyabi@gmail.com
(source:gulf-times.com)
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