Taliban warn to whisk away PPP leaders if Pak Govt allows Davis to go scot-free

Miranshah, Feb 25(ANI): The Taliban have warned the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) against releasing alleged Central Intelligence Agency agent Raymond Davis, who is facing murder charges for killing two Pakistani men in Lahore.

Washington maintains that 36-year-old US official Raymond Allen Davis has diplomatic immunity and shot the two Pakistanis in "self-defence" last month, when they tried to rob him.

Taliban commander Maulana Abdul Khaliq Haqqani warned that the terrorist group would whisk away leaders of the ruling PPP party if the Pakistan Government freed Davis, who is currently under detention in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail.

"Raymond is killer of Pakistanis and tribal people. We will pick one by one PPP leaders if the American was released," the Daily Times quoted Haqqani, as saying in a press statement.

He warned that the PPP leaders at provincial, district and town level would be targeted if Davis were released under pressure. "Hand him over to us if the government is hesitant to punish him for his crime," the militant commander demanded.

Davis is expected to stay in the high-security detention centre until a court hearing next month, despite repeated demands by the US to release him immediately on the grounds of diplomatic immunity.

"Raymond Davis is the killer of innocent Pakistanis. The tribal people will not let go the killer scot-free," Haqqani warned. (ANI)