Thaindian News

Islamabad, Feb 4(ANI): The United States has forcefully presented its case for the double murder-accused American official’s immunity under the Vienna Convention, saying that Pakistan’s Foreign Office does not grant diplomatic status to ‘administrative and technical staff’ of foreign missions based there, but this does not alter the country’s obligations to honour the US official’s privilege and immunities.

Three people were killed last Thursday when US consulate worker Raymond Davis opened fire on motorcycle riders and hit another with his car in an attempt to escape from the scene at Mazang Chowk in Lahore.

The US Embassy handed over a diplomatic note to Pakistan’s Foreign Office, asking the government to release Davis in accordance with the country’s obligations under international law, the Dawn reported.

The note said that in the request for registration with the FO, Davis was mentioned as non-diplomatic staff only to comply with its regulations, which do not accept ‘technical and administrative’ staff of foreign missions as diplomatic staff at the time of issuance of accreditation cards.

The latest edition of Foreign Office’s protocol manual requires all foreign missions to designate their administrative and technical staff as ‘non-diplomatic staff’, even though it appears to be a clear deviation from Article 37 of the Vienna Convention, which clearly states that “members of the administrative and technical staff of the mission… shall enjoy the privileges and immunities”.

“The embassy complied with MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) instructions,” said the diplomatic note, underscoring that this acknowledgement did not compromise his privileges and immunities under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.

This declaration “did not alter Pakistan’s obligations to honour Mr Davis’s privilege and immunities as an administrative and technical staff member,” the note stated.

It further asked the Pakistan government to shed its ambiguous position on the status of the American official.

Apparently because of feared consequences, both domestic and bilateral, the government has so far been shying away from determining the status of the accused. Although government officials claim in private discussions that Davis did not have a diplomatic status, publicly they have taken a stance has the issue would be decided by courts, the report said.

In its note, the US Embassy threw the book at the Pakistan government, and accused it of violating both its international obligations and local laws by keeping Davis detained and not deciding on his status. (ANI)