PPP spokesperson Wahab resigns

Rezaul H Laskar

Islamabad, Feb 20 (PTI) Fauzia Wahab, the spokespersonfor Pakistan''s ruling PPP, has resigned from her post, justdays after she contended that an American official arrestedfor gunning down two men in Lahore was entitled to diplomaticimmunity.

Wahab, the information secretary of PPP, told the mediain Karachi that she had resigned from the post in the wake ofher comments that arrested US official Raymond Davis hadimmunity like other foreign diplomats.

She said her statements were her personal views and didnot reflect the policy of the PPP.

Wahab said that she had held the position during acritical phase and would continue to work for the PPP.

She had triggered a controversy when she told a newsconference in Karachi on Monday that Davis had a diplomaticvisa and could neither be arrested nor kept in custody.

Reports said Wahab would be replaced as the spokespersonby former Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira.

Islamabad''s ties with Washington have been strainedsince Davis was arrested in Lahore on January 27 aftershooting and killing two armed men he claimed were trying torob him.

Pakistan government has turned down several US demandsfor Davis to be released on grounds of diplomatic immunity.

The PPP also decided not to reallocate the foreignaffairs portfolio to Shah Mahmood Qureshi in a recent Cabinetreshuffle after he took the stand that Davis is not entitledto blanket immunity.