KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party spokeswoman Fouzia Wahab said on Monday that Raymond Davis has immunity and that he had an official visa.
Pakistan's ties with the United States have gone into crisis since police arrested Raymond Davis, who confessed to killing two men in self-defence on a busy street in the eastern city of Lahore on January 27.
Washington supports his claim and says he is a diplomat who should be released immediately in keeping with international law.
"We have always abided by international laws and conventions," Fauzia Wahab told reporters in Karachi.
"Davis has an official business visa, so why argue and why we are risking our overall good reputation before the rest of the world?"
The US State Department on Saturday postponed a round of high-level talks with Afghanistan and Pakistan following failed attempts to get Pakistan to release Davis.
US lawmakers have threatened to cut payments to Pakistan, the beneficiary of $7.5 billion dollars of aid and $2 billion in military aid, and Washington has warned that high-level dialogue is at risk unless Davis is freed.
"America is the largest market for Pakistan, with whom we earn four billion dollars. Most Pakistanis who live in the United States send bulk of remittances to us to support our economy," said Wahab.
Hundreds of Pakistanis have taken to the streets demanding that Davis be hanged over the killings. A third Pakistani man was run over and killed by a US consulate vehicle that made a failed attempt to recover Davis.
The insurgency in the northwest has demanded that the government execute Davis or hand him over to the militia.
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