Lahore shooting: US asks Pakistan to intervene

ISLAMABAD - The US has asked Pakistan to intervene in the Lahore shooting case in which a US consulate official fatally shot two men who allegedly tried to rob him. The Pakistan Army chief has told the interior minister to handle the case with “extreme care”.

Davis Raymond, an employee of the US consulate in Lahore who has been arrested, shot dead two youths while a third was crushed under a vehicle immediately afterwards Thursday.

Express Tribune reported that US Ambassador Cameron Munter met Foreign Secretary Salman Basheer and requested the federal government to intervene in the incident.

Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Interior Minister Rehman Malik have also had a meeting in this regard.

The general advised Malik to handle the matter with “extreme care”.

The case is currently being handled by the Punjab government, and Raymond has been remanded in police custody for six days.

Raymond told the police that two armed motorcyclists had tried to rob him. He chased them and opened fire at them near Chowk Qartaba. One of the motorcyclists died on the spot while the other died in a hospital.

After the incident, Raymond called for help and a US consulate vehicle rushed to assist him.

Violating one-way traffic law, the driver hit a motorcyclist, who died on the spot. The vehicle then sped away.

Intelligence data accessed by Express Tribune show that Raymond visited Pakistan nine times since 2009.

Raymond, 37, visited Pakistan for the first time Oct 18, 2009, landing in Islamabad. His last entry into Pakistan was Jan 20, 2011, when he landed in Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport.

He travelled using a regular passport and there was no diplomatic passport, the media report said.

The US official has told the police that shortly before the shooting took place, he had a minor collision with a rickshaw.

The police have booked the two motor cyclists, who were shot dead, on two complaints of robbing mobile phones and cash.

Two complainants, Farzand and Sheharyar Malik, have said that the duo had robbed them of their mobiles and cash just before the incident and were fleeing.

The police said that two mobile phones were recovered from the dead youths and it matched the description provided by the complainants.

In a related development, the police in Lahore have sent a formal request to Pakistan’s foreign office to contact the US Consulate to identify those in the vehicle that knocked down and killed a motorcyclist.