Pakistani court: US consulate employee can't leave
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A Pakistani court said Thursday that the U.S. national Raymond Davis arrested for killing two Pakistanis in Lahore on Jan. 27 cannot leave the country.
Davis, who works for the U.S. consulate in Lahore, had shot dead two Pakistanis last month, causing serious diplomatic row between the United States and Pakistan.
The U.S. State Department has accused Pakistan of not honoring" international laws on diplomatic immunity. But Pakistan's former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi did not accept that Davis was entitled to claim diplomatic immunity.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on Thursday sought three-week time to submit reply on the question of Davis diplomatic immunity, lawyer Azhar Siddique told reporters at the court premises.
The Lahore High Court ruled that the court cannot proceed on the issue of diplomatic immunity unless the Foreign Ministry comes up with statement on the status of the accused.
Siddique moved a petition arguing that the American embassy and the Pakistani Foreign Ministry have not yet submitted a certificate to prove that the shooter is a diplomatic agent.
Attorney General Punjab Khwaja Haris argued that the Vienna Convention also does not give blanket immunity to people involved in heinous crimes.
Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad adjourned the hearing till March 14.
Nobody from the American embassy appeared in the court as the U. S. opposes referring the case to courts.
While another Lahore session court on Thursday started the hearing against Davis and called him in the court on Feb. 25.
