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Davis not a diplomat: Qureshi

PPP UPSET The PPP on Sunday slammed former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for saying a US official arrested for killing two men could not be given diplomatic immunity, with leaders accusing him of working against the party's interests.

Islamabad, February 13
Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that according to official records and experts in the Foreign Office, the US official arrested for gunning down two men in Lahore is “not a diplomat and cannot be given blanket diplomatic immunity”.

“The kind of blanket immunity Washington is pressing for (US official Raymond) Davis is not endorsed by the official record of the Foreign Ministry,” said Qureshi, who declined to join Pakistan's new Cabinet last week after he was not reallocated the foreign affairs portfolio. “On the basis of the official record and the advice given to me by the technocrats and experts of the Foreign Office, I could not certify him (Davis) as a diplomat,” Qureshi told a daily.

Qureshi skipped the swearing-in ceremony on Friday after he learnt that the leadership of the ruling Pakistan People's Party had decided not to reallocate the foreign affairs portfolio to him.

Reports have suggested that the PPP decided to remove him from the Foreign Ministry because of his decision not to back the party’s top leadership’s move to grant diplomatic immunity to Davis, who was arrested in Lahore last month after he shot and killed two men.

Qureshi also spoke on the issue of Davis during his farewell speech, The News quoted its sources as saying.

The Foreign Ministry, on the basis of its records, had concluded that Davis was “neither a diplomat nor enjoying blanket diplomatic immunity,” the sources told the newspaper.