US ‘ready to mend Pakistan ties’

WASHINGTON, Feb 25: The United States has revived high-level diplomatic and military contacts with Pakistan, indicating a desire to put behind the bitterness created by the arrest of a CIA contractor in Lahore, diplomatic sources told.

On Wednesday, when the US and Pakistani military chiefs had a day-long meeting in Oman, Pakistan`s Ambassador Husain Haqqani was invited to the State Department for a formal meeting with Marc Grossman, the new US Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

During the meeting, the State Department informed the ambassador that Mr Grossman planned to visit Islamabad early next month for exploratory talks with Pakistani leaders.

Although Mr Grossman served in Islamabad from 1976 to 1983, this would be his first visit to the country since his appointment earlier this month as US special representative for the region, replacing the late Richard Holbrooke.

“There`s no severance of relations,” said a diplomatic source while describing the impact of Raymond Davis`s arrest on US-Pakistan ties. “The Americans were still talking to the Pakistanis but almost always focused on the Davis affair.”

In Wednesday`s meeting, the source said, the Americans did not raise this issue. “Instead, they expressed the desire to move ahead with the efforts to build a strategic relationship with Pakistan.”

The source said that while the trilateral — Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US — talks scheduled in Washington this week had been postponed, the strategic dialogue would go ahead as planned.

The US-Pakistan strategic talks were scheduled next month and may still be delayed but would be held “more or less as planned”, the source said. The source confirmed a news report that the Davis dispute had strained relations between the CIA and the ISI but both sides had agreed to mend those ties as well.

“Misunderstandings and suspicions,” said the source while explaining what caused the tensions between the two spy agencies.

“The Pakistanis complained that the Americans were working behind their back, against the spirit of the partnership,” the source added, while “the Americans felt that the ISI was protecting some insurgents”.

In November, WikiLeaks confirmed that large numbers of US special operations forces had been operating inside Pakistan with or without Islamabad`s consent.

The source also confirmed that the Pakistan Embassy had issued thousands of visas to Americans, more than 400 on a single day. “But all those visas were issued with Islamabad`s consent,” said the source.

Is USA pushing people of Pakistan towards revolt and revolution?

To unjustly protect and save one American Spy / Agent, USA is threatening to sever all ties with Pakistan and cutoff all aid. This is an extremely difficult situation for Pakistan. People saw an American shoot two youths multiple times in broad day light in front of hundreds of people. Pakistanis who are already suspicious of USA's role in terrorists incidents in Pakistan are furious at how a foreigner could so blatantly kill youths and then another vehicle belonging to US Consulate crushed another (third) person and then managed to escape.

US embassy has refused to hand over their employees involved in hit and kill and is refusing to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies.

If the Government of Pakistan sets Raymond Davis free on US insistence then all hell will break lose. People are aware of how spineless their leaders are. With daily CIA managed US drone attacks in the northern parts of the country, bomb blasts and now threats... there is only so much a nation can take.

US must realize that their immature behavior regarding arrest and trial of Raymond Davis can have really dangerous consequences.  Pakistan  is not like Egypt or Tunisia, Pakistan is a nuclear armed country with a highly trained army. Islamic groups and extremism is prevalent here and 60% of the population (total of 180 million) is between 16 to 24 years of age.

If revolt starts here the entire region will be devastated. Is it really worth helping one America killer in exchange of compromising safety and security of thousands?

 

Update: No special privilidges will be given to Raymond Davis in prison. This means he will eatt and drink whatever is given to rest of the prisoners and same prison kind of prison cell  and toilet. 

"Kicking Ass" and Getting Kicked

It is well documented that like a fluorescent lamp former President Bush’s brain took time to light up and comprehend what he was being told after the 911 attacks. Bush who was reading a story about goats (or was it apes?) to some children at that time explains the delay to the boiling rage that engulfed him and spawned an uncontrollable desire to ‘kick ass’. This ass kicking urge was the conceptual basis for the strategy that put American kids first in Afghanistan and then Iraq where thousands have been killed, maimed and turned into basket mental cases. Of course while ‘kicking ass’ they have had their own ass thoroughly kicked and the process continues. Recently a media report indicated that the Taliban have welcomed the US Department of Defense decision to let all the gays in the military out of the closet ending the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy that kept a fig leaf over their activities. The Taliban in Afghanistan have launched ‘Operation White Ass’ as a response to the new US military policy ---this operation as nothing to do with donkeys.

In the heady days when President Bush was strutting around with his kick ass policies he mentioned the ‘axes of evil being Iraq, Iran and North Korea’. As the US headed into Iraq the Iranians and North Koreans developed nuclear weapons as their response to ass kicking-- so much for US commitment to non-proliferation regimes! To further show his disdain for non-proliferation and preference for ass kicking as his major strategic thought Bush signed the India-US Nuclear Agreement against all non-proliferation norms thereby opening the flood gates for trade in nuclear materials. Finally it must be mentioned that at the inception stage of the ass kicking strategy Bush fatally and prophetically mentioned the word ‘crusades’ thereby starting the ‘clash of civilizations’—orthodox and extremist Christianity against orthodox and extremist Islam. Others have joined in to make this a ‘new cold war or great game’.

We now come to the latest US ass kicking venture---the “davis” affair. An unidentified American employed by the US Department of Defense as a ‘security official’ under the code name “Raymond Davis” has run amok in a crowded Lahore street and as a result three Pakistanis died—two shot at point blank range with hollow nose bullets fired from an automatic weapon and one crushed to death by a team of other security consultants who tried to rescue the killer. Did this guy—‘Davis’-- decide to go ass kicking because he was bored? Or was he on a more sinister mission? All sorts of theories abound and instead of cooperating to settle the matter and clear doubts the US is exerting pressure and coercing through threats. Perhaps the time has come to part ways especially after the widow of one of the men killed has committed suicide after demanding justice. Such a parting would be painful for Pakistan but it would be what the majority of Pakistanis want. It is for the US to decide how far it wants to go with the ass kicking strategy and how much ass kicking it can bear in return.

By Ahsan Waheed

A legal view of immunity to Raymond Davis

By Mirza Shahzad Akbar
Friday, February 04, 2011
 
ISLAMABAD: Does Raymond Davis have diplomatic immunity? A simple answer is no, because he is not a diplomat. Diplomatic immunity in layman’s terms is a form of legal immunity held between governments through treaties, which guarantee that diplomats are given safe passage and considered immune from civil suits or criminal prosecution.

The governing instrument of International Law for diplomatic immunity is called Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, and a lot has been said about this already in press and on TV. However no one has paid attention to a similar treaty of just two years later, called Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 which was adopted by Pakistan through Diplomatic and Consular Privileges Act 1972.

This Convention governs immunities and privileges accorded to Consulate members and its staff. The word “consular post” is defined in Article 1 of 1963 Convention as any consulate general, consulate, vice consulate or consular agency, and consular officer is defined as any person, including the head of a consular post, entrusted in that capacity with the exercise of consular functions.

After understanding these two definitions given in Vienna Convention of 1963, one needs to read Article 41 (1) which says: “Consular officers 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”.

Now having read the law, there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that if a member of US Consulate in Lahore kills someone, he is answerable to a court of law in that jurisdiction, as there is no other crime more heinous or more grave than murder. The next important fact to establish here would be: who is Raymond Davis? This has to be looked further into from two angles: one concerning his legal status and second regarding his factual status. For determining his legal status, the US Embassy Islamabad’s press release of January 28, 2011 is quite helpful which says:

‘A staff member of the US Consulate General in Lahore was involved in an incident yesterday that regrettably resulted in the loss of life. The US Embassy is working with Pakistani authorities to determine the facts and work toward a resolution’.

This statement can be read on US Embassy’s website at http://islamabad.usembassy.gov/pr-11012801.html.

In light of this we can say that Raymond Davis who was a US Consulate Lahore employee shot two citizens of Pakistan, and his accomplices (still at large) ran over another passerby and as he is not a diplomat as per Vienna Convention of 1961 but a consular officer as per Vienna Convention of 1963. Therefore he has no diplomatic or consular immunity as the crime concerned is of grave nature, and his fate is to be determined by the court of competent jurisdiction, which in this case is District and Sessions Court in Lahore.

Now the second angle about Raymond Davis is the factual aspect as to who is Raymond Davis? According to American press, Davis runs a Florida based security company named M/s Hyperion Protective Consultants. Similarly, according to American analysts and security experts this Florida based company sounds like a typical CIA operative. According to Jeff Stein’s report in Washington Post, and the security expert Burton, Davis “had outstanding situational awareness to recognize the attack unfolding and shoot the other men. It shows a high degree of firearms discipline and training.”

And finally the post mortem report of victims establishes the professional style of execution. Another interesting fact is that it took US Embassy days to determine the exact status of Raymond Davis. And to further insult our intelligence the US Embassy press release on the issue on January 29 declares him employee of US Embassy Islamabad (this not so innocent assertion is to claim diplomatic immunity under 1961 Convention). And the story of self-defence does not fit in quite well in the presence of several bullet shots at the back of motor-cyclists. In any event, for a successful plea of self-defence Davis would have to establish grave and immediate danger to his life and the use of reasonable force to avert such danger.

In the end, the uproar of Pakistanis in the aftermath of this incident and the prevailing anger among masses should not be construed as anti-American. Pakistanis do not hate America, for many it is the hope of success and better life. The idea of liberty and freedom flows from US in modern history. But majority of Pakistanis do hate American state’s hegemony, self-righteousness and their policies in the region. American State was much hated in the Arab world for their policies towards Palestine and Israel and now we see uprising in Egypt and Jordan against their dictators who had been toeing American line for too long. This growing hatred in Pakistan for America is rather new for American post 9/11 policies. Let’s hope it does not lead Pakistan to utter chaos.

The writer is a practising lawyer in Islamabad. email: mirzashahzadakbar@gmail.com

The Ugly American

Spearhead Analysis - 03.02.11

AY is a young banker. A few days ago he drove out of his bank to run an errand. He stopped at a busy intersection where traffic was being controlled by a traffic warden. Hearing a tap on his window he turned and looked into the muzzle of a pistol leveled at him from under a loose scarf that hid it from others. The motor cyclist who had another person sitting behind him with a similar scarf motioned him to lower his window. He did so and complied immediately with the demand to hand over his wallet, watch and phone. The whole episode took two minutes and the motorcyclists sped away leaving the young man to face the wrath of the traffic warden who was angrily urging him to move it. OS is a young businessman. Returning from work he felt a vehicle hitting his car from behind. He jumped out to investigate and was whisked away by two armed men leaving his driver shouting. It has been six weeks and ransom negotiations are slowly dragging on. These two true stories are a tiny sampling of the menace of street crime, kidnappings and even killings on the streets of Lahore as well as other urban areas. The victims are helpless because no one can help them and the criminals have established credibility by killing those who resisted—in every case they got away.

Against this backdrop consider the case of the ‘American’ Raymond Davis, except that he is not actually Raymond Davis (as indirectly admitted by the US spokesman Mr Crowley). What should have been a hold-up gone horribly wrong has turned into the kind of incident that neither Pakistan nor the US wanted. The ‘American’ obviously a highly trained operative shot two motor cycle riding young Pakistanis apparently (according to his version) in self defense. He then called for ‘back-up’ from his own people and a speeding car that responded ran over and killed another Pakistani and injured others as it violated all traffic laws to whisk the ‘American’ away. They failed—and in any case it was a fatally flawed decision. The ‘American’ is in police custody and the case is now sub-judice in the Lahore High Court. The US has demanded his immediate release claiming diplomatic immunity for him. There is now confusion over his identity, his status, his job description, the business that took him to one of the city’s most crowded areas alone and armed, the lone eye witness who has disappeared after a single TV appearance, the identity of the policemen who arrested him, the exact circumstances of the shooting , the number of rounds fired, the caliber of the weapon used, the ability of the ‘American’ to call up and summon his colleagues who attempted a ‘hijack’ instead of talking to the police on the spot (probably fearing a reaction from the crowd and further mayhem) and finally the identity of those who responded for the ‘rescue’. Each one of these ambiguities could and should have been cleared up within 24 hours if there was cooperation and transparency—that these remain unclear has led to speculation and media frenzy that is now taking many directions. The US demand, without a resolution of the incident, has put Pakistani law enforcement and the judicial system up against the wall. A more cooperative attitude would have left the door open and this gauntlet hastily thrown has created complications.

The street discussion (and in some cases the media) ranges over several scenarios. The ‘Blackwater’ controversy has been revived and the name this time is “Hyperion Protective Consultants”—obviously a cover for other work. There is the perception that trained operatives have gained access and run loose in urban areas embedded in a notoriously unsuspecting civil society to hire local agents, locate high value targets and perhaps collect the millions promised as ‘bounty’. There are suspicions that it’s all about nukes—to discover locations, plan access and prepare for ‘contingencies’. There is the extreme scenario that these loose cannons are guns for hire and are behind the violence and lawlessness in urban areas either to push the military into North Waziristan or failing that to destabilize the entire country for an implosion modulated by economic clout. Media is speculating on the presence of other such ‘Americans’ riding around in vehicles with false plates. There is the doubt whether the operatives are all ‘American’ sponsored or others are also involved.

All of this could have been avoided if there had been a sense of urgency in factual disclosures preempting media and public opinion—a lesson that is not being learnt and is especially important in Pakistan’s current charged environment. The most significant factor of course is transparency and that is possible only when there is nothing to hide. As if orchestrated there are other issues coming to the fore—a statement from the Deputy Military Commander in Afghanistan that ‘the war in Afghanistan is winnable without Pakistan’, the killing of a Pakistani soldier in an exchange of fire between Afghan and Pakistani forces on the border, the story of an increase in Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal (when it is no secret that stockpile augmentation and delivery system improvement continues unabated in both India and Pakistan), the displeasure over Pakistan’s stance on the FMCT (with India joining the chorus) and the IMF refusal to release the next tranche of the badly needed funds. There is speculation that much more will follow. There are voices calling for a nuclear energy pact and an economic bail-out for Pakistan but these are lost in the confusion that prevails.

The overriding requirement is for diplomacy and tact to take over and dominate the discourse. The first step has to be identification and determination of visa status—this will set the course for a decision on custody and legal procedure. This should not be difficult between strategic allies if they want the air to be cleared. Pakistan, of course, needs to address the entire law and order issue comprehensively and methodically to ensure human and material security.

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