Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Pakistan Jails U.S. Consular Worker Over Shooting deaths


A delegation of visiting U.S. Congress members has threatened to cut aid to Pakistan unless it releases a U.S. citizen jailed over the shooting deaths of two Pakistanis. Raymond Allen Davis, an employee of the U.S. consulate, admitted to fatally shooting two people he said threatened him while he was driving in Lahore last month. A third Pakistani was reportedly run over and killed by a U.S. consulate vehicle that arrived at the scene. Last weekend, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton canceled a meeting with Pakistan’s foreign minister to protest Davis’s detention. The State Department says Davis holds a diplomatic passport and is entitled to full criminal immunity. The Obama administration has demanded his immediate release. On Tuesday, CounterPunch.org released a number of revelations questioning Davis’s role at the consulate. Davis and the U.S. embassy have claimed that he was hired as an employee of Hyperion Protective Consultants, a Florida-based security firm. But an article posted on CounterPunch says no such company has been located at the given address, and the Florida Secretary of State office has no record of a Hyperion Protective Consultants. Pakistani journalists have speculated Davis is a CIA agent or a private contractor working for a mercenary firm. According to CounterPunch, U.S. officials failed to report Davis was driving a rental car rather than an embassy vehicle and possessed two handguns, a substantial amount of ammunition, three cell phones and a telescope. The incident has sparked massive protests in Pakistan. The wife of one of the victims committed suicide on Sunday

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