'Pressurised' Pak Foreign Office relents, declares murder accused American "a diplomat"

Islamabad, Feb 16(ANI): Pakistan's Foreign Office has declared double murder-accused US official Raymond Davis "a diplomat" in a letter written to the Law Ministry.

According to the letter, Davis was designated in Pakistan at the US Consulate in Lahore as "a diplomat" and enjoys 'diplomatic immunity' according to the Vienna Convention, Geo News reports.

The letter was reportedly sent just a few minutes after US President Barack Obama and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John F. Kerry demanded Pakistan to acknowledge Davis as a diplomat and urged for his early release on the grounds of diplomatic immunity.

Earlier, the Pakistan Government had maintained that the case against Davis, who has confessed to shooting dead two Pakistani men in Lahore allegedly in 'self-defence', was sub-judice and that only the court should decide on this matter.

Last Friday, despite the US insisting that Pakistan should free Davis as he is entitled to "full immunity from criminal prosecution by Pakistan" under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, he was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days, with the next hearing due on February 25. (ANI)