MACAU DAILY TIMES  18.02.2011

Pakistan adjourns American immunity case

A Pakistan court yesterday put off ruling whether Raymond Davis a US official accused of double murder has diplomatic immunity, threatening to prolong a crisis with Washington for another month.
 “As the deputy attorney general has requested three weeks to submit a reply on the status of Raymond Davis, the case is adjourned until March 14,” Lahore high court chief justice Ijaz Mohammad Chaudhry said.
The court adjournment, extends tensions between the United States and Pakistan, where an anti-American population of 167 million is ruled by a weak and unpopular government closely allied in the US war in Afghanistan.
“This is not a simple case. It has legal, social, political and international implications, and the government therefore wants to find a solution with consensus,” Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said.
Davis says he acted in self-defence when he shot dead two men in a busy street in the eastern city of Lahore on January 27.
A third Pakistani died when struck by a US diplomatic vehicle that came to Davis’s assistance.