LHC adjourns Davis immunity case till March 14

The Lahore High Court on Thursday adjourned till March 14 the hearing of various identical petitions against possible handing over of Raymond Davis to the US after a deputy attorney general sought time to file foreign ministry reply in the matter.
Deputy Attorney General Naveed Inayet Malik appeared on behalf of federal government and informed the court that the name of Raymond Davis had been placed on Exit Control List and all the concerned had been notified in this regard. He requested the court to grant three weeks time to file the foreign ministry reply.
"As the Deputy Attorney general has requested three weeks to submit a reply on the status of Raymond Davis, the case is adjourned until March 14," Lahore high court Chief Justice Ijaz Mohammad Chaudhry said. Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhry also said that Pakistan's government has to decide whether Davis is a diplomat, adding that the court can't decide until the FO response.
The LHC began hearing to decide if Raymond Davis has diplomatic immunity, in a case that has frayed ties between the wary allies. The court had given the foreign ministry 15 days to answer on whether full diplomatic status was held by Raymond Davis, who has been remanded in custody since his arrest following the incident on January 27.
Filing a written reply on behalf of the Punjab Government, Advocate General of Punjab Khawaja Haris defended the charges against Davis and said whatever was happening with him is purely according to the law. He not only defended three FIRs under murder charges, two against Davis and the other against his rescuer vehicle's driver, but also tried to convince the court that he had no diplomatic immunity.
He said special investigation team has found Davis guilty of offences under section 13 of Arms Ordinance 20 of 1965 and under section 302 of PPC. He said so far as the question of immunity from criminal prosecution of the accused is concerned, according to Section 4 of the Diplomatic and Counsellor Privileges Act, 1972 this is for the Federal government to certify. And the federal government so far has not issued any such certificate, he said. He said in case the federal government issues any such letter, the Punjab government shall place it before the court.
He said till today no claim for immunity for accused Davis on account of his being employed by or being a member of the US Embassy in any of the capacities mentioned in Article 1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 has been communicated to the Punjab Government.
AG said contradictory statements were being issued by US officials about immunity of accused Davis. He said the first note received in the Punjab provincial home department unequivocally describes Raymond Davis as an employee of the US Consulate General, Lahore and holder of a Diplomatic Passport. He said having diplomatic passport does not mean that he enjoyed diplomatic immunity. He said if this status of the accused Davis is correctly described, he would, in any case, not be entitled to the immunity available to the "Members of the Mission" under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, rather his case would fall under the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Counsellor Relations (VCCR), 1963 under which he has no immunity from prosecution in cases involving a grave crime. He said according to Article 41 of the VCCR "Counsellor Officer shall not be liable to arrest or detention pending trial except in the case of a grave crime and pursuant to a decision by the competent judicial authority".
He said on February 11 anther note was produced on behalf of accused Davis in the court of magistrate which was written by Embassy of the United States of American to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan claiming diplomatic immunity for the accused by representing that "the Embassy duly notified Davis as member of the administrative and technical staff of the US Embassy". The Chief Justice was holding proceedings in five different proceedings filed by different people seeking trial of Davis in Pakistan registration of case against him for allegedly operating in Pakistan under fake name, against US claimed immunity for Davis.