THE UNITED States has postponed a meeting with Pakistani officials in Washington amid a worsening dispute over Raymond Davis, an American embassy official who shot dead two men.
The Obama administration is exerting further pressure on Pakistan to release Mr Davis, on the grounds that embassy staff have diplomatic immunity.
Pakistan has said the courts must decide his status.
Relations have been chilled by the stand-off at a time when the US is seeking to win broader co- operation from Pakistan’s military for its campaign in Afghanistan.
The US state department said at the weekend that it was postponing a meeting on February 23rd- 24th of senior officials from the US, Pakistan as well as Afghanistan.
It said the decision had been taken “in light of political changes in Pakistan” and after discussions with Afghan and Pakistani officials in Washington.
The postponement has been interpreted in Pakistan as a snub designed to underline Washington’s growing impatience with the government of President Asif Ali Zardari.
Islamabad faces an acute dilemma as a result of the case. Pakistan is the second-biggest recipient of US economic aid and its government is reluctant to antagonise Washington.
However the prospect of Mr Davis – who says he acted in self-defence – escaping punishment for the shooting has crystallised widespread anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.
“Our effort, and I must say emphatically, is that this incident in Lahore is not blown out of proportion,” Salman Bashir, Pakistan’s foreign secretary, said at the weekend.
“It will be extremely counter- productive if one incident or one person . . . destroys a relationship of 60 years. It is simply unthinkable.”
A judge in Lahore increased the pressure on Mr Zardari on Friday by placing Mr Davis in custody for 14 days to allow the government to determine whether he was entitled to immunity.
In remarks that will further complicate the government’s position, Shah Mehmood Qureshi – Pakistan’s foreign minister, who was dropped from his post during a cabinet reshuffle on Friday – said the foreign ministry had no record of Mr Davis being registered in Pakistan as a diplomat.
“I took the view that Raymond Davis did not have diplomatic immunity. I continue to defend my position,” Mr Qureshi said. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011