B.O.Obama's national security advisor has threatened to boot Pakistain's ambassador Husain Haqqani from the country if a US official nabbed in Lahore was not released by Friday, ABC News said.
Last Friday, which seems to have passed...
Citing two Pak officials, ABC News said late Thursday that National Security Advisor Tom Donilon made the threat after summoning Haqqani to the White House on Monday.
He also warned US consulates in Pakistain may be closed and an upcoming visit to Washington by Pakistain President
Asif Ali President Ten PercentZardari
... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ...
could be cancelled if US official Raymond Davis was not freed.
While the White House has declined to comment, a senior US official confirmed the details of the report to ABC News.
Davis was nabbed on January 27 after allegedly shooting two men in broad daylight in a busy street -- an incident that has sparked angry protests in Pakistain.
Meanwhile Pakistain on Friday sent the US official to jail on judicial remand, pending further murder investigations and a legal tussle over diplomatic immunity in a case that has inflamed ties with Washington.
Raymond Davis appeared in a Lahore court accompanied by heavy police security, 15 days after he was nabbed for shooting dead two men on cycle of violences. He has maintained he acted in self-defence.
The US government says Pakistain is holding him unlawfully and demands his immediate release, saying that Davis is a "diplomat assigned to the US embassy in Islamabad" and has diplomatic immunity.
US politicians have threatened to cut payments to Pakistain, the beneficiary of ê7.5 billion dollars of aid and ê2 billion in military aid, and Washington has warned that high-level dialogue is at risk unless Davis is freed.
"He has been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. The next hearing will be on February 25," Punjab government prosecutor Abdul Samad told news hounds.
A full report was not presented in court on Friday as "investigations were not completed," Samad said.
"Most of the time was taken up by the defence lawyer on the issue of immunity. The judge said that the issue of immunity had been taken up by a higher court, so it was not in his purview," Samad said.
On February 1, the Lahore high court blocked any move to free Davis and gave the foreign ministry 15 days to answer on whether he has diplomatic immunity.
Nauman Atique, lawyer for the Paks rubbed out by Raymond, said Judge Aniq Anwar said the question of immunity was pending before the high court.
The US embassy was not immediately available for comment.
"I can say no more!"
Police official Suhail Sukhera told news hounds that Davis was now being sent to the high-security Kot Lakhpat jail in the eastern city.
On January 27, Davis rubbed out two Pak men who he said were trying to rob him in broad daylight on the streets of the city. A third Pak was run over and killed by a US consular vehicle coming to aid Davis, who was instead taken into Pak police custody.
Samad told news hounds that Davis' lawyers had submitted two applications: one demanding immunity on his behalf and saying he cannot be put on trial, and the second asking for court proceedings to be held in camera.
In what has become a political time-bomb, the government in Islamabad is under enormous domestic pressure to see Davis go on trial, with local lawyers arguing that diplomatic immunity can be waived for grave crimes.
The deaths sparked protests in Pakistain, where the alliance with Washington is hugely unpopular and anti-American sentiment runs high, fuelled by US missile attacks on Islamists in the northwest and the war in Afghanistan.