US Consulate denies knowledge of SUV in Lahore shooting

US Consulate tells CCPO that Raymond Davis is a diplomat working in Pakistan as protestors take to the streets.

LAHORE: The US Consulate on Wednesday said it had no link to, or knowledge of, either the SUV or the occupants of the vehicle that crushed to death one person after the shooting incident in the city in which an American citizen shot and killed two people.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Muhammad Aslam Tarin, who paid a visit to the US Consulate to discuss the case with the Consul General, was told by officials there that Raymond Davis was a diplomat working in Pakistan under the full cover of diplomatic immunity granted to him under the Geneva Convention.

Davis has a diplomatic passport: Malik

Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the senate that Raymond Davis had a diplomatic passport and he was given a Pakistani visa after security clearance.

He said that the federal government did not intend to influence the case, adding that the media was intentionally trying to create misunderstanding between the provincial and federal governments.

Malik said that Davis' name had been placed on the Exit Control List as ordered by the Lahore High Court.

‘Only Foreign Office should issue visas’

Opposition leader in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, while addressing the session of the lower house today said that visas to foreigners should only be issued by the Foreign Office.

He pointed out that visas were currently being issued by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Foreign Office, the Interior Ministry, the Presidency and the Prime Minister's House.

He also said that the government should avoid trying to give an impression that it is giving in to American pressure in the Davis case.

Relatives refuse to pardon shooter

Relatives of the three men killed, who held a joint news conference in Lahore today, said that they refused to pardon the shooter, adding that the American embassy should hand over other officials involved in the incident to the police.

They also said that they had been offered American visas for withdrawing the case, which they would not accept, instead demanding that the court should rule on the case.