I really told myself for a few days that I won't write about any of this but I have been reading about it so much that it is better to just put it into words. I know I often say the value of life is insignificantly low in my country. I may not like it if somebody else from some other country would say things about Pakistan but then there is no point in denying the truth. Life in itself is not important - human beings from any social strata in any part of our country, animals, nature, trees and plants all of them have been suffering for the longest time here. Slowly and gradually degrading into nothing. Some think about all this and quite a few don't even bother because they have beautiful lives.
Anyway, till now we are being killed and suffered by each other. This time, a foreigner killed two Pakistanis in Pakistan. The more one gets to know about this case the puzzle gets a bit more complicated. The story is all over our media. Although boys, men and women die everyday - that is insignificant. Here, because an American is involved, of course it makes it more worthy of being talked about. Anyhow, the story is somewhat like this so far...
A US official, Raymond Allen Davis shot two young motorcyclists near Lahore's Qurtaba Chowk on Jan 21st. He said he shot them in self-defence. Davis said that the two men tried to loot him and so he retaliated. But then he ran off from the scene. Surprisingly, or not so, another car an SUV was behind him to rescue Davis but whoever was in that vehicle ended up killing a common man on the bike. Police never got hold of that car or who was driving it. Davis does not know who was in it. He said he did call his Regional Security Officer about the incident right after it happened and perhaps they sent someone. But the fact that the vehicle came, killed a common man and fled doesn't make much sense.
There are many muggers and mobile thieves here. People are mugged often. Sometimes they even shoot or kill the people for the sake of a mobile phone. As per the police records, it is proved that the two men were actually robbers and on the same day before they were shot by Davis, they did rob a few people. Two of the complaints have been recognized to be against the dead boys as they were found with the robbed possessions as per the complaints.
The US ambassador Cameron Munter has highlighted the Geneva Convention, which allows diplomats to have the right of diplomatic immunity according to which Davis can not be tried in Pakistan according to the Pakistani court of law. Anyhow, Raymond Davis' identity and diplomatic status will decide this if he is eligible for diplomatic immunity. Surprisingly, earlier US was quiet but in today's papers we can see the change in their stance. They are now saying that he is a diplomat and that his documents can be shared. This is a bit strange too, as per Pakistani diplomats they were silent before or perhaps making his documents to save him.
The peculiar data about Davis is that since October 2009 he visited Pakistan at least nine times. He is 37 years old and has travelled on his regular passport rather than a diplomatic passport, which should have been the case. Pakistani sources don't really have any record or information of Davis' official work ever since he has been visiting since 2009.
As per the policy guidelines issued by the Foreign and Interior Ministries, US officials can not move around without informing their security officials. This is for their own security but Davis was driving a locally registered car instead of a diplomatic car without informing anybody. Another important thing to note is that Davis was carrying and illegal weapon. The police recovered a digital camera, a phone tracker with a charger.
Davis said he never intended to kill them. For six days he will be in police remand. They want to know why was he there at that time, why was he travelling in a private car, why did he not take any security and why was he carrying a wireless set in his car and also why was a SUV following his car. Also, they feel the way he shot the two men shows he is no ordinary diplomat, he seems to be fully trained at it.
Pakistan is under pressure from both ends. Within the country people are angry about this incident. They say it is an Aasia Siddiqui sort of scenario and that Davis should be dealt with according to Pakistan's law. The government does fear that the protests can get ugly with time as this is no ordinary case.
Anyway, it is quite possible that it is proved that it all happened in self-defence and he would be free. I just feel this is not just such a simple thing. It has a bigger game plan to it that is not clear to us. It is quite possible that he would go free but if he does not then it is also possible that this is some sort of a game plan according to which Davis is supposed to do this and be here. I don't know, this is just a thought that came in my mind keeping in mind everything. Actually the truth is that even we are talking about this because of the complications and strangeness revolving around Davis and not because some muggers were shot dead. But it is a rather strange case on the whole. Also, if the government fails to deal with this case in a right manner then it could lead to an uproar amongst common Pakistanis who are tired of not getting justice since forever in all aspects of life.
