Writ petition: The Raymond Davis question

A writ petition was filed in the Lahore High Court to summon former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

LAHORE: A writ petition was filed, on Tuesday, in the Lahore High Court to summon former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Pakistan Peoples Party information secretary Fauzia Wahab for making statements on double murder accused American Raymond Davis’s diplomatic immunity.

The petition asks that the court direct both Qureshi and Wahab to divulge material that would substantiate their statements. Petitoner, Advocate Muhammad Azhar Siddique, submitted that while Qureshi had said that Davis did not enjoy diplomatic immunity, Wahab had said Davis had complete immunity. The petitioner said Davis should not be handed over to the American government till the court has decided the issue of diplomatic immunity. Davis, he said, should be tired for deliberate murder and sentenced under Pakistani law. He prayed to the court that the record be sent back to the Foreign Office and copies submitted to the court. He also prayed for judicial inquiry into the alleged tampering, manipulation and forgery of the record of immunity maintained by the ministry.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2011.