Tribune’s Gamechangers 2011: Raymond Davis

He came. He saw. He shot.

The shooting of two men in the busy streets of Lahore by Raymond Davis – a US citizen who turned out to be a CIA contractor was a defining moment of 2011, and one of the forerunners in a series of events that damaged Pak-US relations, perhaps forever.

Jailed in Pakistan for double murder and illegal possession of a firearm, Davis was a diplomatic nightmare and a dream come true for every conspiracy theorist in Pakistan.

The CIA contractor’s case raised serious questions about diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, however, all such debate was cut ever-controversially short following his sudden exit from the country after payment of diyya (compensation money) to the victims’ families.

The Davis fiasco was also cited by former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi as his reason for leaving his post and the PPP.

Quote of the year: “If Pakistani courts cannot punish Davis then they should hand him over to us” – Tehreek-e-Taliban Spokesperson Azam Tariq