“The President said he appreciated their concern but the matter was already before the courts,” said the president’s spokesperson Farhatullah Babar, adding the president told the delegation “it would be prudent to wait for the legal course to be completed.”
Neither the American consulate in Lahore nor the accused Davis is cooperating with the Lahore police in the investigation of the double murder charges against him, said superintendent police (operations) Umar Saeed on Monday.
The police have added a section of illegal weapons in the murder case registered against Davis due to his failure to prove the legality of the Glock pistol he used in the double murder, the SP told reporters. He quoted Davis as telling interrogators that he could not provide the licence or the permit for carrying the weapon.
Saeed added that the US Consulate in Lahore has not responded to the police’s requests of handing over the driver and the vehicle that had crushed to death the third motorcyclist, Ibadur Rehman, while Davis has also not disclosed any information in that regard.
Meanwhile, a comprehensive report on the case has been handed over by the Lahore police to Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, police sources told The Express Tribune.
However, CCPO Aslam Tareen, when contacted, denied that any written report had been handed over to any government functionary.
Petitions in the courts
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday sought reply from the federal and provincial governments on four identical petitions seeking preemptive restraining order against removal of accused Davis outside the jurisdiction of the high court or his possible repatriation under diplomatic immunity.
The petitioners, expressing apprehension that the government might succumb to foreign pressure and release Davis, requested the court to direct the federal government to place the name of the accused on the exit control list (ECL) and order an independent judicial inquiry into the incident.
The petitioners contended that the federation had no discretion in the matter to hand over the accused to his home country without a trial.
They asked the court to restrain the handing over and shifting of the accused till the disposal of the criminal cases registered against him.
LHC Chief justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry asked the deputy attorney general Naveed Inayet Malik to seek instructions from the respondents and inform the court on Tuesday, February 1.
Meanwhile, a similar petition was moved in the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday for the trial of Davis and a bar on his repatriation.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 1st, 2011.
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