News clippings showing Davis is spy be made part of record: LHC
LAHORE: Chief Justice (CJ) of the Lahore High Court (LHC), Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry, while accepting an application on Wednesday, ordered to make clippings of foreign and local newspapers mentioning spying activities of Raymond Davis part of the court’s record.
Judicial Activism Pakistan Chairman, Muhammad Azhar Siddique, who submitted the application, argued that clippings of different newspapers and Internet material comprising 225 pages showed Davis was involved in spying activities inside Pakistan and the US government itself had admitted that he was a spy.
He requested that all the clippings should be declared to be part of the record.
The CJ also accepted another application moved by Siddique requesting to rely on the photocopies of different materials instead of demanding certified copies.
The CJ turned down the request to make the US government a party to a number of petitions relating to Davis case. Chaudhry held that there was no need to make the US government a party to the dispute. “It is the Pakistani government which will decide wheather Davis enjoys immunity or not. Therefore, dragging the US government into the case is not necessary,” he observed.
Siddique referred to various news items published in foreign and local media with respect to the US government’s withdrawal from the optional protocol to the Vienna Convention on Counselor Rights as proposed in 1963.
He contended that former US secretary of state Condoleeza Rice had informed the then UN secretary general Kofi Anan about the US government’s decision to withdraw from the protocol in a letter dated March 7, 2005.
He said that the US intended to move International Court of Justice in Davis case during the pendency of current petitions and there was a possibility that either the US or Pakistan could take such action.
He requested that in the interest of justice and fair play and to settle the issue amicably, the US government be made a party to the instant petition through its ambassador in Pakistan.
Siddique has already challenged the US-claimed diplomatic immunity to Davis under the Vienna Convention, describing it in conflict with the constitution of Pakistan and also against the charter of the UN.
He pleaded that under the constitution of Pakistan, none of the constituents of the executive, including the president and the federal government, was authorised to extend any type of immunity to its citizens or foreigners when such immunity includes risk to the Pakistani nation.
Source: Daily Times
Date:3/3/2011
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