The sudden drop scene of Raymond Davis’s trial might have stunned a few, but it was an inevitable outcome.
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: The sudden drop scene of Raymond Davis’s trial might have stunned a few, but it was an inevitable outcome. There was no other solution in this stand-off, which was in fact a tie between the intelligence agencies of the two countries. One can presume that issues between the ISI and the CIA have been settled, at least for the time being, and that this led to Davis’s release.
The payment of diyat or ‘blood money’ and the sentence given to Davis for the possession of illegal firearms, was all within the framework of Pakistan’s legal system. Military dictator General Ziaul Haq made qisas and diyat part of the country’s criminal law and, over the years, this law was often cited as being massively misused to let off perpetrators of honour killings. Davis’s release has sparked off protests by religious parties, and the right-wing section of the media is buzzing with all sorts of stories to heighten already-high anti-American sentiment in the country.
But there are lessons to be learned by both sides. And, perhaps the most important is that both countries need to put this unfortunate incident behind them and move on with their joint fight against terror.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, March 18th, 2011.
