When Raymond Davis burst onto the headlines in a flash of broken glass and gunfire, the nation became immediately transfixed. Here was the blonde, white American ex-Blackwater CIA operative that the conspiracy theorists of the Ghairat Brigade had been warning us about! The Americans immediately claimed diplomatic immunity, and the response was a predictable gasp from both the left and the right.
There were two popular responses to the question of diplomatic immunity and the fate of Raymond Davis. The jihadi solution was to set aside any pretense of reason, justice, and law and order and simply hang the man in the street as an act of vigilantism.
The second came from the more reasonable-sounding crowd who repeated ad nauseum that everyone should ‘let the courts decide’ and demanded that the Americans respect the ruling of Pakistani justice.
For example, here is the statement of JUI-F.
“The Islamic laws clearly provide that a person, after proving to be guilty, would have to undergo the punishment, Qasas, Diyat etc under Sharia,” said JUI-F’s Secretary General Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.
He explained that the judicial process is obviously of Pakistan as an accused would have to pass through the process in accordance with the law of the land where he commits a crime…”The only acceptable option is to let the courts decide about the fate of the arrested US national in accordance with the laws,” he responded to a question.
Letting the courts decide was also the stated opinion of COAS Gen Kayani – an opinion termed “total commitment to rule of law in the country” by The Nation.
Reaffirming total commitment to rule of law in the country, the top brass of Pakistan Army Wednesday supported decision of the government that case of US national Raymond Davis was a sub judice matter and let the court handle it.
In fact, The Nation was quite explicit in its own support for the courts to decide. On 6 February they even published an editorial with the headline, ‘Leave it to the courts’.
Is it intolerable for the bipartisan delegation for a Pakistani judge to decide the fate of an American? The need to leave the judiciary to decide is highlighted because the investigator in the case has determined that excessive force was used.
Even JI deputy chief Liaquat Baluch said that the Americans should allow the courts to decide.
“Why is America hell bent on trampling on Pakistani law and its judicial system? We will forcefully protest if he is released without a court order,” Jamaat-e-Islami deputy chief Liaquat Baluch told Reuters.
Now, of course, the court has decided. Justice has been carried out according to our own laws and customs, and not American or Western jurisprudence. Qisas & Diyat Laws were invoked, blood money has been paid, the families have issued a pardon, and the accused has been acquitted by the courts and released.
So, everyone who demanded to let the courts decide based on our own laws and customs is satisfied, right? Of course not. This is Pakistan.
No, instead you have everyone complaining that the court came to the wrong conclusion. If this is the case, why bother with courts at all? If courts are supposed to come to a pre-determined conclusion no matter what, then they are not courts at all but just a sham. Law and order is about process, not outcome. Justice is about means, not ends.
There were some groups that made very clear that they had no interest in real justice – that no matter what, their blood lust must be satisfied. These groups include TTP and JuD.
If Pakistani courts cannot punish Davis then they should hand him over to us,” said Azam Tariq, spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban movement of Pakistan).
“We will give exemplary punishment to the killer Davis.”
The entire Raymond Davis affair was a disaster from start to finish. People are still talking about the effect on national dignity, but that was a no-win situation also. Recognizing his claim of diplomatic immunity would stoke a media firestorm that threatened riots and violence that would humiliate the nation on the world stage. Not honouring our commitments under the Vienna Conventions would make us appear untrustworthy to other world powers. In the end, the court managed to side-step both of these possible disasters in an artful and just decision under our own laws.
As for the Americans, whether or not Raymond Davis was entitled to diplomatic immunity, the incident was humiliating for them. And with this outcome, the Americans had to respect Pakistan’s sovereignty as well as our courts, laws, and customs. Raza Habib Raja makes this excellent observation on Pak Tea House.
Now if indeed the families of the victims have accepted the compensation and Mr. Raymond has been released after compensation has been paid, then frankly it is a win win situation. Although I know some may disagree because they desperately wanted to see Raymond publicly hanged but a thoughtful analysis would reveal that in fact USA has not been able to bully Pakistan and eventually had to resort to proper legal means and had to compensate the families. Of course this fact would not be acknowledged by the media but if the families have accepted the compensation then it is a moral victory of Pakistan while preserving its realpolitik concerns.
The only people who didn’t get their wish were the Taliban who weren’t ever interested in ‘justice’ but only wanted to quench a blood lust. These are the same Taliban who are mercilessly killing our own people, violating our own sovereignty, and trying to replace our own laws and customs with their own. Do we really want to find ourselves infected with their same blood lust?
After dragging on for far too long, the Raymond Davis case is finally closed. It’s time to focus our attention on more important matters. Like the urgent need to address the education emergency in our country. We can tell our children about how the Americans could not bully us, and how through our own laws we found justice. But we cannot, we must not dwell on this episode. Our children deserve a better future than one obsessed with ghairat and America. We need to stop looking backwards, and start looking to the future of our country. The Raymond Davis case is closed. It’s time to put that same energy that we spent in putting down America into building up Pakistan.
I hope CIA or any other agency operating with/out know how
of our agencies do not take this decision as party cake!
Express Tribune states that the victims families were pressurised by Punjab Government to accept blood money.
Will this set a precedent for on going CIA operations to
kill, spend 48 hours behind bars, pay and go home to a hero’s welcome?
I think it is much more likely to say that this episode has put an end to any future Raymond Davis type adventures. This outcome could not exist without the approval of the military brass and ISI. I said before that the entire case looked like it was a ‘Spy vs. Spy’ episode in which the CIA and ISI were seeing who cold hold his breath the longest. With this outcome there must have been an agreement to settle the differences to the satisfaction of our own military brass, so I think the case is closed.
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