Republican Congressmen threaten Pakistan that they will cut off aid if diplomat not set free.

US threatens to cut aid to Pakistan

Visiting congressmen increase pressure to release US citizen detained for shooting dead two Pakistani men.

US congress members have threatened to stop aid to Pakistan unless it releases an American detained over shooting deaths of two Pakistani men.

As the US increased pressure on Pakistan on Tuesday, it had already warned about the risk to high-level dialogue unless Pakistan released Raymond Davis, a US government employee.

Davis was arrested on January 27 after shooting two Pakistanis. He said he acted in self-defence fearing they would rob him.

A third Pakistani was run over and killed by a US consulate vehicle that had come to assist Davis, according to police.

The incident set off protests in Pakistan, where anti-US sentiment has long run high.

Defying reported U.S threat to cut off diplomatic relations if its embassy official Raymond Davis was not freed by Friday, Pakistan accused the operative with diplomatic status of cold-blooded murder of two locals and remanded him to a 14-day judicial custody as ties between the two countries continued to head south.

The American warning, subsequently denied by both sides, was purportedly delivered by U.S National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, who, ABC News reported, told Pakistani ambassador Hussain Haqqani earlier this week that Washington will ''kick him'' out of the country, close US consulates in Pakistan, and cancel an upcoming visit by President Zardari to Washington if Davis is not released from custody.
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In Washington, US officials reeled back from the threat to punish Pakistan, even as Haqqani frantically engaged lawmakers on the Hill on Thursday after being shunned by the administration. The Pakistani envoy met Senator John Kerry, Speaker John Boehner, and lawmakers Howard McKeon, Mike Rogers, and Ileana Ross-Lehtinen among others to plead Pakistan's case after a reported White House dressing down.
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But Haqqani challenged the report in a tweet, his favored mode of communication, saying, no ''US official, incl the NSA, has conveyed any personal threats 2 me or spoken of extreme measures.'' The U.S embassy in Islamabad meanwhile said that ''although we are unable to discuss the substance of a private diplomatic meeting, US embassy Islamabad can state categorically that the description of the conversation in this report is simply inaccurate.'' In a subsequent tweet, Haqqani said ''Both WH & I denied rumor...but aspiring fiction writers insist on being reporters.''

Pakistan's former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had pressurised him to verify the diplomatic immunity to Raymond Davis arrested for gunning down two men in Lahore.

'Hillary Clinton called me and wanted me to publicly confirm diplomatic immunity of Davis. However, I refused to do so because it was against the factual position in the case,' Qureshi was quoted as saying by Dunya News Saturday night.
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' Munter threatened that Hillary Clinton would not meet me at the Munich security conference Feb 6, if the request was not granted,' Qureshi recalled.

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Qureshi's name was in the list of ministers supposed to take oath Friday after the cabinet was dissolved earlier this week to prune it. However, he refused to take oath at the last minute when he was offered water and power ministry instead of foreign affairs, the report said.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the former foreign minister dropped in the truncated cabinet, has confirmed Raymond Davis is not a diplomat and cannot be extended diplomatic immunity, reports a private TV channel.
On his farewell visit to the Foreign Office, Qureshi said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had asked him to endorse diplomatic immunity for Davis, but he had refused to entertain the demand. The ex-foreign minister said later US Ambassador Cameron Munter called him and threatened the cancellation of meeting with Hillary on the sidelines of the Munich conference if Davis wasn’t freed.
Qureshi said the Foreign Office had checked its record thoroughly. He said the prime minister wanted him to be silent on the Davis issue, as he (the PM) wanted the Interior Ministry to make all statements. Qureshi said he respects the party’s decision of dropping him in the slimline cabinet in the first phase.

The US has postponed the tri-lateral dialogue with Afghanistan and Pakistan mainly because of the strained relationship between Washington and Islamabad over the arrest of an American accused of murder.

By: Shaiq Hussain | Published: February 12, 2011
Senator John Kerry steps in to save Davis By: Shaiq Hussain | Published: February 12, 2011
ISLAMABAD: US Senator John Kerry and the US House of Representatives’ Speaker John Boehner have stepped in to secure the release of American national Raymond Davis, currently detained in Lahore for killing two Pakistanis, as the diplomatic row between Islamabad and Washington intensified on Friday after the Lahore Police declared the incident a “cold-blooded murder”, not an act of self-defence.
The US authorities increased pressure on the Pakistani government to provide diplomatic immunity to Davis, as they believe it is now the only chance to get him released after the Pakistani police held him responsible for clear and intentional murder.
Sensing the gravity of situation, US Senator John Kerry, who not only enjoys immense clout in the American ruling circles, but also has close ties with top authorities in Islamabad, on Thursday met the Pakistani Ambassador in Washington Hussain Haqqani and asked for Davis’ release. This demand was repeated by American speaker, John Boehner, who also had a meeting with Haqqani.
A diplomatic source said that the piece of advice from Senator Kerry and American speaker was that the row over Davis could lead to deep negative impact on the ties between Islamabad and Washington and as Davis enjoyed diplomatic immunity, he must be set free without any further delay. The source said the fate of Davis now hinged upon the diplomatic immunity that was supposed to be declared by the Foreign Office, now headed by Hina Rabbani Khar who replaced Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday. “A very tough situation for Khar, who is seemingly novice in the arena of foreign affairs and Qureshi, despite all his anger and anguish for being shown the door, must be somewhat relieved as he fully realises the serious fallout of supervising the whole process of granting immunity to an American who is disdained and hated across the country,” the diplomat said. He said the buzz in the ruling circles was that the Makhdoom from Multan was asked to relinquish the portfolio of foreign minister after he was blamed for assuring the Americans that Davis would be set free only in a matter of hours after he was arrested in Lahore on January 27.

Senator Jhone Karry is one of those American senators who have always played their role to support Pakistan in American corridors of power. Being Pakistani I am thankful to him for what he did for Pakistan and Pakistani people.

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The matter should be resolved politically. America compensate financially to the victim's family and hand Dr. Afia over to Pakistan in return for Davis release.

assachusetts Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, left Monday night for an emergency trip to Pakistan to try to repair deteriorating relations in the wake of the arrest of a US embassy worker who shot two Pakistani motorcyclists dead, according to committee staff.

The trip, which a senior US official said Kerry took at the request of the Obama administration, is the latest twist in the saga of Raymond Davis, who shot two men dead in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore on January 27. Davis told Pakistani police he believed they were trying to carjack him, but a Pakistani court has held him on suspicion of murder near term.

The senior US official who spoke on background because of the sensitivity of the case, said that Kerry is not trying to secure the release of Davis, whom Pakistani officials have indicated will remain in custody for the term. Instead, Kerry's mission will be to "help tone down the rhetoric and reaffirm the US partnership with Pakistan."
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Kerry has developed closed relations with Pakistan leaders over the years, and pushed through a $7.5 billion, five-year aid package for the country. He has traveled to Pakistan four times since he became chairman of the powerful committee in early 2009.

U.S. Sen. John Kerry says Pakistan and the United States need to focus on their "many mutual interests" rather than letting the dispute over a jailed U.S. embassy worker derail relations.

American Raymond Davis has been detained since Jan. 27, when he fatally shot two Pakistani men who he says were trying to rob him. A chorus of American officials have called for his release on the grounds of diplomatic immunity, including President Barack Obama.

Kerry reiterated the U.S. stance Tuesday. He also said he regretted the deaths of the two Pakistani men and pledged Davis will be tried in an American court. Kerry spoke in the eastern city of Lahore while on a last-minute trip arranged amid tense relations between Washington and Islamabad over the Davis case.