Yesterday's Wshington Post posted an article about the release of Raymond A. Davis, a CIA contractor who has been in prison in Pakistan since January 27.
The article reports:
"At the time of his arrest, Davis was serving as a security guard for a team of CIA operatives gathering intelligence on militant organizations in Lahore, including Lashkar-i-Taiba, a group that has carried out deadly attacks against India and has long been backed by the ISI.
"A former U.S. Special Operations soldier and employee of the private security firm known as Blackwater, Davis said he fired in self-defense after being approached by two armed men on a motorcycle in an apparent robbery attempt at a traffic signal.
"U.S. officials initially asserted that Davis was merely a State Department employee entitled to diplomatic immunity. President Obama called him "our diplomat" and argued that he should be released. But Pakistani officials disagreed."
The article also reports:
"A broad agreement was reached last Friday to make blood money payments to the families, but officials said there were concerns that it might unravel as the families argued about the terms.
"Such payments are incorporated into Pakistan's statutes under "compensation and forgiveness" provisions of sharia law."
This is a glorified ransom payment--and even at that the release of Mr. Davis is not popular with many Pakistanis.
The U K Independent reported yesterday:
"The US had insisted that Davis had diplomatic immunity and demanded Pakistan free him immediately.
"Pakistani officials, faced with criticism by Islamist parties and members of the public, had refused to state clearly whether he had immunity.
Pakistani officials had suggested that the payment of "blood money" was the best solution and in recent days speculation mounted that such a deal was in the works.
"Mr Sanaullah said Davis was charged with murder before members of the dead mens' families were taken into the court, where they signed papers formally forgiving him in exchange for £2.3 million dollars.
"Judges then acquitted him on all charges."
There is one more small detail to this story as reported in the Washington Post:
"Negotiations to resolve the dispute began in earnest three weeks ago, when Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) made a surprise trip to Pakistan at the administration's request to try to ease tensions.
"A broad agreement was reached last Friday to make blood money payments to the families, but officials said there were concerns that it might unravel as the families argued about the terms."
There are no words...
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