THE NEWS
Friday, February 18, 2011
KARACHI: Justice (retired) Wajihuddin Ahmed of the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf categorically stated that Raymond Davis did not enjoy diplomatic immunity as he had not been issued a diplomatic card by the host country which was mandatory as per international law.
He said this while talking to the media at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Thursday.
He drew attention of the media to the controversy about the real name of the person being referred to as Raymond Davis and said that even President Obama had not named the double murder-accused. As such, he queried, how a person about whose very name and identity there were doubts, could claim diplomatic immunity.
He said that people must not have forgotten that the judiciary was also reinstated through a long march and people would come out from every corner as did the people of Tunisia and other Middle Eastern Countries took to the streets.
He said it was a serious issue and only head of the mission was granted diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961.
Replying to a question as to what the stance of the PTI would be in case the President or the Prime Minister, exercising their discretionary powers, ordered Davis’s release, he said that case should be examined under International Convention and circumstantial evidence be also examined. Furthermore he said that the court be given a fair opportunity and an open trial should be conducted which should be accessible to the International community as well.
To another question regarding the role of Foreign Office in this connection, he said that it was Raymond Davis’s tenth visit to the country and asked as to why the Foreign Office had declared just seven days before the incident that a controversial person like Davis had a diplomatic passport.
Long march: Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has warned of a long march in the country if high officials of the government ordered release of Raymond Davis allegedly involved in what they said was the cold-blooded murder of two Pakistanis last month.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has decided to stage a sit-in at Mozang Chowk, Lahore, on Friday in protest against the possible release of Raymond Davis by whose firing two people were killed in a broad daylight. The PTI also announced to continue this protest every Friday till the issue pending in the court was resolved under the law.
According to the law, Justice Wajihuddin said, that a person should only be tried in the courts of the country where he/she had committed offence. He also quoted the statement of US President Obama who himself refrained from naming Davis and referred to him as ‘this person’ and claimed that under the Vienna Convention, 1961, technical staff did not enjoy immunity. At this moment he also presented a chart of Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, and quoted Article 1(B) which has two categories head of the mission and members of the staff of the mission and he falls in the second category which does not enjoy immunity.
He said Davis was a former military man connected with a security network and never had any diplomatic assignment accorded to him and added that in such blatant cases application of international conventions could only be determined by a court sitting at the location.
Suppose, he said, Davis did enjoy immunity, still, under the Vienna Convention he would be entitled to immunity if the offence was committed within the premises of that consulate/diplomatic mission. No international law, he said, gave protection to the cold-blooded, daylight murder in a public place.
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