Indian Telecom Giants in Jail!!!

New Delhi: Five corporate honchos spent Wednesday night in Tihar jail after their bail was denied by a special court for their alleged involvement in the 2G scam.

On Wednesday morning, the Delhi court rejected the bail application of Sanjay Chandra, MD, Unitech Ltd and Unitech Wireless, Vinod Goenka, MD, DB Realty and Swan Telecom (now Etisalat), Gautam Doshi, Group MD, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) and Hari Nair and Surendra Pipara, Senior Vice Presidents, ADAG.

Continue reading 2G scam – Top telecom honchos spend night in jail

Q.) What would happen if Raymond Davis got killed in Pakistani custody?

Lets say Raymond Allen Davis died while he was in the custody of Pakistan's law enforcement agencies.

1. What would happen? What questions would be raised?
2. What would be America's reaction?
3. Will America use this as an excuse to send ground troops in Pakistan?

These are some of the questions that may need to be answered. What do you think can happen if such a thing happens?

Pakistanis Keep American In Custody Despite U.S. Pressure

If there was any question that Pakistan intended to bow to U.S. demands and quickly release a U.S. official who killed two Pakistanis last month, the public answer came back today as an emphatic no. 

The U.S. wanted Davis released before his court appearance this morning, but the court said he would remain detained for two more weeks. The U.S. has requested Davis be treated well, but the court sent him from a relatively comfortable police station into a crowded jail. And the U.S. continues to argue Davis acted in self defense, but the Lahore police chief today accused Davis of "intentional and cold-blooded murder." 

Davis' continuing detention, his move to a prison, and the apparent impending murder charge could infuriate the United States. A senior U.S. official said that so long as Davis is detained, any major U.S.-Pakistan meeting would be dominated by a discussion about Davis -- making normal bilateral discussions right now difficult to impossible.

But the embassy in Islamabad rejected the claim made by Pakistani officials in an ABC news report that pressure to release Davis included a meeting between National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and Pakistan Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani in which Donilon threatened Haqqani with expulsion and the closure of U.S. consulates in Pakistan if Davis wasn't released by today.

"ABC News carried a story regarding a conversation in Washington between senior U.S. and Pakistani officials," said the statement, released by embassy spokeswoman Courtney Beale. "Although we are unable to discuss the substance of a private diplomatic meeting, U.S. Embassy Islamabad can state categorically that the description of the conversation in this report is simply inaccurate."

U.S. officials declined to specify which details in the story were inaccurate.

Haqqani also denied that he had been threatened.

"The characterization of my conversation with White House officials by ABC News borders fabrication," he said in a statement to ABC News today. "It is not our policy to reveal details of diplomatic conversations. I can say, however, that National Security Adviser Tom Donilon did, indeed, convey the US government's views about the case of Mr Raymond Davis during a meeting on Monday evening but no ultimatum or threat was given. I conveyed the government of Pakistan's commitment to resolve the matter in accordance with Pakistani and international law. Both sides are working together to resolve the case expeditiously and to continue our multi-faceted strategic partnership."

U.S. Declines To Provide Details About Ray Davis

Davis has become a political and intelligence football: he is caught between a federal government ruled by the Pakistan People's party and a Punjab government led by the opposition, which is more skeptical of U.S. policies; and he is caught in an intelligence game because he killed two men working for Pakistan's premiere intelligence agency, according to four Pakistani officials.

The U.S. continues to decline to answer questions about Davis' precise job in Pakistan, saying only he was a "member of the administrative and technical staff" of the Islamabad embassy and traveled on a diplomatic passport.

"We regret the incident resulted in the loss of life. Eyewitness reports showed the American acted in self defense," Beale told ABC News in response to the court decision. "There's no doubt he has diplomatic immunity, and we're working with the government of Pakistan to resolve this."

But Pakistani government officials are beginning to chafe at the way the U.S. government is going about that. They complain that U.S. pressure is disproportionately falling on them and not on the country's powerful military and intelligence service.

A congressional delegation from the House Armed Services committee visited Pakistan last weekend and raised the possibility that Davis' continuing detention would threaten military aid, according to a committee aide. But a senior Pakistani military official denied that was true.

"There were no threats," he said casually, shrugging his shoulders.

But there have been threats delivered to government officials, and the larger problem, those officials say, is that the pressure is boxing them in -- because it is eroding overall support for the United States.

Speaking in private drawing room conversations or in high-end coffee shops, even some of those who support the United States say they feel like they can't support Davis' release, especially not publicly. In their minds, the ambiguous nature of Davis' job, his killing two Pakistanis in broad daylight, and the wide coverage given to U.S. anger in Pakistan has shrunk the public acceptance of all U.S. policies in Pakistan.

'More Aggressive Anti-American Sentiments'

"I think the response to the U.S. anger is more aggressive anti-American sentiments," said Ahmed Malik, sitting at the upscale Gloria Jean's coffee in Lahore. He and his friends said the U.S. was "bullying" Pakistan. "I think people feel it's totally unjustified for the Americans to ask for a man who's done something like this" to be released, Malik said.

Their increasing skepticism of U.S. diplomacy was echoed by the senior military official, who discussed Davis' detention on the condition of anonymity.

"It should disturb the U.S. when the liberal class, on the account of U.S. attitude and bullying… is showing a lot of frustration, anger, reservations," the official told ABC News.

He argued that the U.S.' repeated and public condemnations of Davis' detention was decreasing its support across Pakistan -- and that would inevitably decrease the military's ability to support U.S. policies.

"The U.S. should help the state and the foreign office rather than putting out one statement [calling for Davis' release] after another. It will multiply the public anger," he said. "No military can take a position that is contrary to the public perception."

And if the anger increased, he argued, the U.S. was risking its already weak popularity among the public and among its most vocal Pakistani supporters.

"If that space is being lost," the official said, "then it's the last nail in the coffin."

Pakistanis Fear Releasing Ray Davis Would Spark Protests

Fears of anti-American protests in Lahore were apparent starting at 7:00 a.m. local time, when broadcast reporters began setting up their cameras outside not one but two courthouses, hoping to catch a glimpse of Davis. Police, judicial, and political officials misled journalists over the previous 24 hours, suggesting Davis would appear before different courts -- apparently an attempt to reduce security threats and media presence.

Police went so far as to send an empty armored personnel carrier to one court as a decoy as the armored personnel carrier carrying Davis arrived at another court.

In Karachi, the radical group Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which is banned in Pakistan and which U.S. officials tie to the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, led a rally with political parties. "Anyone who is a friend of America is a traitor," read one poster, according to the Associated Press.

In Lahore, government officials believe releasing Davis would spark huge protests. The family of one of the men Davis killed warned the government not to release him, and told ABC News today that they wouldn't rest until they had "blood for blood."

"In Islamic law and in Pakistan's law, the punishment for death is death," Imran Haider, Faizan Haider's brother, said in Lahore today. "And god willing, the court will have him hanged."

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