Washington: The United States on Thursday will submit a petition before the Lahore court to certify that Raymond Allen Davis, who has been arrested on murder charges, has diplomatic immunity and he should be released.
"On Thursday, we will present a petition to the court to certify that he has diplomatic immunity and that he should be released," P J Crowley State Department spokesman told reporters.
He insisted that Davis should be immediately released by Pakistan and his arrest was in violation of the Vienna Convention.
"We feel that Pakistan has an international obligation to release him because he has diplomatic immunity, and that we continue to press this point with the Pakistani Government," the States Department spokesperson said.
He said that Pakistan has an obligation to certify that under the Vienna Convention, and we continue to engage Pakistan to insist that he be released.
The United States, he said, is building a strategic partnership with Pakistan.
"We are going to build this relationship for the long term. We respect our international obligations, and we expect other countries, including Pakistan, to do the same," he noted.
"We continue to make clear that we're supporting Pakistan because it's in our mutual interest to do so. We are committed to Pakistan for the long term, but we do expect that international obligations will be respected," Crowley said.
The State Department spokesman, however, refrained from linking Davis case with the postponement of the US-AF-Pak tri-lateral meeting, which was scheduled later this month.
"First and foremost, there's a practical issue here. Since the Pakistani Government is reforming its government and a number of the ministers have not yet been appointed who would be relevant to the trilateral, we thought it was prudent to postpone it," he argued.
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