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Summary
Lahore High Court on Tuesday issued a stay order against possible handing over of David Raymond, killer of two Pakistanis, to US and ordered to put his name in the Exit Control List (ECL), Dunya News reported. The Chief Justice Lahore High Court also maintained that only the court would decide whether Raymond enjoys diplomatic immunity or not. I am restraining him (from being handed over to US authorities). Whether he has or does not have (diplomatic) immunity will be decided by the court, ruled Lahore high court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry.On the other hand, the United States State Department confirmed that Davis is a staff member of their embassy in Pakistan: He is a member of the embassys technical administrative staff and therefore entitled to full criminal immunity. He cannot be lawfully arrested or detained in accordance with the Vienna Convention, said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley. Crowley said Washington agreed with the US employees version of events:In our view, he acted in self-defense, when confronted by two armed men on motorcycles.The diplomat, Raymond Davis, had every reason to believe that the armed men meant him bodily harm. And minutes earlier, the two men, who had criminal records, had robbed money and valuables at gunpoint from a Pakistani citizen in the same area, said Crowley. Earlier a Pakistani lawyer called for the American who shot dead two men last week to stand trial for murder despite US legal claims of diplomatic immunity.Local lawyer Saeed Zafar filed the petition under public interest laws, claiming that Davis must stand trial in Pakistan and should be blocked from being handed over to the US government. The US embassy in Islamabad has claimed diplomatic immunity on behalf of Davis, described as a consulate employee, who is under investigation on double murder charges after the shooting in Lahore Thursday.Pakistans courts have so far refused to release the gunman.
