White House Threatens: "U.S. will kick Haqqani out of the U.S., close U.S. consulates in Pakistan"

Donilon Told Pakistanis To Release Ray Davis By Friday Or Else; Davis Due In Court Friday A.M.

By MATTHEW COLE and NICK SCHIFRIN

Feb. 10, 2011

Pakistani officials said President Obama's national security advisor summoned Pakistan's ambassador to the White House Monday evening to deliver a threat from the president: Release Raymond Davis, an American being held in Lahore for killing two Pakistanis, or face the consequences.

 

Pakistani police escort Raymond Davis to a court in Lahore, Jan. 28, 2011.

(Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)

National Security Advisor Tom Donilon told Ambassador Husain Haqqani, according to two Pakistani officials involved in negotiations about Davis, that the U.S. will kick Haqqani out of the U.S., close U.S. consulates in Pakistan, and cancel an upcoming visit by Pakistan's president to Washington, if Davis, a U.S. embassy employee, is not released from custody by Friday.

The outlines of the threat were confirmed to ABC News by a senior U.S. official, who was not authorized to speak on the record. A White House spokesperson, Tommy Vietor, declined comment.

Ambassador Haqqani denied, via Twitter, that any "US official, incl the NSA, has conveyed any personal threats 2 me or spoken of extreme measures."

Davis, 36, is expected in court early Friday morning in Lahore to face charges of shooting two men on motorcycle on Jan. 25. Davis says he killed the men because they had been following his car and were trying to rob him. Video emerged Thursday of Davis showing his State Department credentials to Pakistani police officers and saying, "I'm a consultant."

Davis is in Pakistan on a diplomatic passport, and the U.S. has demanded his immediate release on the grounds of diplomatic immunity. The stand-off between Washington and Islamabad has brought the already tense relationship between two uneasy allies to a new low.

Raymond Davis Is 'Technical Advisor' To Consulate

The U.S. has refused to elaborate publicly on Davis' position in Pakistan except to say he is a "technical advisor" for the consulate in Lahore. But U.S. officials believe Davis's life is in danger the longer he spends time in a Lahore jail cell, the target of anti-American resentment from Pakistani citizens, some of whom have called for Davis to be executed.

"Our first fear is that the sentiment of the street in Pakistan is, 'Let's take him and hang him,'" said a current senior U.S. official.

According to the official, administration officials fear that the Pakistani government lacks control over Lahore municipal police, who have Davis in custody.

Pakistani government officials have claimed that Davis was being followed by men hired by Pakistan's intelligence agency because they suspected Davis was spying. American officials have said that Davis shot the two men in self defense, after they blocked his car with their motorcycle and brandished weapons.

In a video that aired in Pakistan yesterday, Davis could be seen and heard inside the Lahore police station moments after being taken into custody.

"I need to tell the embassy where I'm at," Davis says to several police officers who are seen inspecting the identification cards around his neck. "I work as a consultant there."

In a statement to ABC News, Ambassador Haqqani denied that the U.S. and Pakistan were "negotiating through threats."

"Both sides are trying to work out a way forward," said Haqqani. "Our countries are sufficiently close to handle an irritant in our relationship."

Pressure Kills Another Pakistani Victim Of US Agent Raymond Davis

Pressure Kills Another Pakistani Victim Of US Agent Raymond Davis

· Shumaila Kanwal was under pressure from Interior Ministry to forgive the American killer

· US diplomats and a pro-US government take the life of a young couple

· Her last words, ‘I don’t expect justice from this government’



Four Pakistani citizens are now dead because of an American killer who is being shielded by the US government.




SPECIAL REPORT | Monday | 7 February 2011
WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Pressure from the federal government and especially from the Interior Ministry on the families of the victims of an American spy illegally operating in Pakistan has claimed the life of a young wife, taking the number of those killed by the actions of Raymond Davis to four Pakistani citizens.

The families of the three Pakistanis killed by covert American agents faced tremendous pressure last week from the pro-US government to forgive the killers.

Far from protecting the rights of its own citizens, the Pakistani government has been scrambling to find ways to release four Americans wanted in the murder of three Pakistanis falsely accused by the US Embassy of being robbers. Unknown Pakistani officials have offered US Green Card and blood money which have been roundly rejected by the families.

But apparently Shumaila Kanwal could not take the pressure. Her husband Muhammad Faheem was not only shot in the back by suspected CIA operative Raymond Davis, which defies any possibility of attempted robbery or attack, but the US Embassy brazenly came out to dub Faheem as a robber, without any evidence. Talks are underway between lawyers and the families of Faheem and another victim to sue the US Embassy for defamation, in addition to obstruction of justice and misleading a criminal investigation.

Shumail, 25, was married six months ago.

Lamenting a Pakistani state run by rulers who can no longer protect their own citizens, Shumaila committed suicide by swallowing rat poison on Saturday. She was rushed to a hospital in Faisalabad in critical condition where she died a few hours later.

"I do not expect any justice from this government," said Kanwal in a statement recorded by the doctor before she died, according to a report. "That is why I want to kill myself."

Kanwal also spoke to reporters after arriving at the hospital, saying: "I want blood for blood."

"The way my husband was shot, his killer should be shot in the same fashion," she said.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Pakistani ambassador to Washington Husain Haqqani are scrambling to get the American killer released. Together with the US government they are badgering the Pakistani Foreign Office to change its position and certify that the accused Americans, apparently working for either CIA or US military without permission from Pakistani government, be declared as diplomats and granted immunity from prosecution.



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