Islamabad: The spokesperson of Pakistan's
ruling PPP, Fauzia Wahab, resigned today days after airing her
views favouring diplomatic immunity for arrested US official
Raymond Davis.
Wahab told a press conference that she was resigning
from the position for "personal reasons," Dawn news reported.
The PPP spokesperson had in a press conference on
Monday said that Davis had a diplomatic visa and he could
neither be arrested nor kept in custody under the Vienna
Convention.
However, she said today that her statement did not
reflect the policy of the Pakistan People's Party but were her
personal views. Wahab said she will continue working for the
party.
"He (Davis) is a technical member of the US embassy's
diplomatic staff and according to Pakistani laws, any diplomat
and technical or administrative staff cannot be arrested or
taken into custody," she had told reporters on February 14.
The paper said quoting its sources that the party had
decided to replace Wahab with former information minister
Qamar Zaman Kaira.
The issue of the arrest of Davis has erupted into a
major conflict between the US and Pakistan, with the latter
rejecting persistent US calls to release the official.
Davis on January 25 allegedly shot dead two Pakistani
men, who he claimed were trying to rob him.
However, the Lahore police told the court that it was
a cold-blooded muder and there was no evidence to substantiate
the claim that the killing happened in self defence.
The Pakistan government is under pressure due to
strong anti-American sentiment at home. Former foreign
minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who has maintained that Davis
does not qualify for blanket immunity, has also questioned the
government's handling of the case immunity.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, February 20, 2011, 00:18