Freeing of Davis: Lawyers assail decision

Punjab, Centre facilitated his release, they claim.

KARACHI:

Lawyers have criticised a court decision to acquit Raymond Davis, describing it as “abusing the process of law”. They also condemned the Punjab and federal governments for making a “hasty” decision in the case.

At a specially called general body meeting of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) on Friday, Sindh Bar Council’s Hanif Kashmiri and senior criminal lawyers said the case was not a simple matter of Qisas and Diyat or of 18 heirs. “This was a matter of the 180 million people of Pakistan.”

In thousands of cases in which two parties compromise, courts normally issue notices. But this double-murder case was decided within a few hours, creating a new record in the country’s judicial history, lawyers said.

The KBA’s Muhammad Aqil said the provincial and federal governments “connived and facilitated the release and escape of Raymond Davis”. Syed Haider Imam Rizvi said that the Davis case was an example of the abuse of power, the abuse of the process of law and a compromise on a country’s sovereignty. Other speakers included Nadeem Shehzad Hashmi, Asmatullah Niazi and Tariq Mehmood A Khan, who claimed that the role of intelligence agencies created many doubts about the proceedings. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s lawyers’ wing leaders, who regularly attend KBA meetings, were conspicuously absent on Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2011.