WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama raised the stakes Tuesday in a tense standoff with Pakistan, insisting that a detained U.S. Embassy employee who killed two Pakistanis must be freed and dispatching a high-profile envoy, Sen. John Kerry, to make the case that Pakistan has much to lose if the case drags on.
Obama said the “simple principle” of diplomatic immunity meant Pakistan must release Raymond Allen Davis, 36, who has been held since the shootings almost three weeks ago.
“If it starts being fair game on our ambassadors around the world, including in dangerous places where we may have differences with those governments, . . . that’s untenable,” Obama said at a news conference, his first public remarks on the case. “It means they can’t do their job. And that’s why we respect these conventions, and every country should as well.”
The Davis case has become a flashpoint for Pakistani nationalism and anti-American sentiment, making it harder for Pakistani authorities to back down despite intense U.S. pressure. Thousands have rallied to demand that Davis be hanged, and the Taliban has threatened attacks against Pakistani officials involved in freeing the Virginia native.
The disagreement has risked spinning out of control in recent days, with U.S. threats of stronger Pakistan sanctions. Partly as a punishment, the U.S. over the weekend postponed a major security conference that was set with Afghanistan and Pakistan later this month.
Davis says he fired in self-defense as armed men tried to rob him in Lahore last month.
The U.S. insists Davis is part of the embassy’s “administrative and technical staff.” Pakistani media reports, however, have focused on him being an ex-Special Forces soldier who runs a U.S. “protective services” company with his wife, who resides in the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch.
