Obama asks Pak to release US diplomat

Washington : US President Barack Obama on Wednesday asked Pakistan to release homicide-accused American diplomat Raymond Davis reminding it of the Vienna Convention, media reports stated.

Thirty-six-year-old Raymond Davis, a tech and admin staff at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, has been jailed since Jan. 27 on a double murder charge.

Davis has admitted to shooting the two men, Mohammad Faheem and Faizan Haider, who he said were armed and trying to rob him. On Feb 6, the wife of Faheem, took poisonous pills and died.

The US has been demanding immediate release of Davis arguing that he enjoys diplomatic immunity and has even postponed a tri-lateral meeting involving Pak recently.

On Wednesday Obama said, “With respect to Davis, our diplomat in Pakistan, we’ve got a very simple principle here that every country in the world that is party to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations has upheld in the past and should uphold in the future.”

“If our diplomats are in another country, then they are not subject to that country’s local prosecution. We respect it with respect to diplomats who are here. We expect Pakistan, that’s a signatory and recognize Davis as a diplomat, to abide by the same convention,” he told reporters.

“Obviously, we’re concerned about the loss of life. We’re not callous about that. But there’s a broader principle at stake that I think we have to uphold,” Obama was quoted as saying.