Malik for Pak NA committee to probe US citizen’s firing in Lahore

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has proposed constituting a National Assembly committee to probe the incident, in which a US official shot dead two Pakistani men in a busy market in Lahore.

On Thursday, three people were killed when US consulate worker Raymond Davis opened fire on motorcycle riders and hit another with his car in an attempt to escape from the scene at Mazang Chowk.

Both the injured were shifted to Services Hospital where they were pronounced dead, while the third motorcyclist, who was also injured when hit by the speeding car, succumbed to his wounds during treatment in Services Hospital.

Speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly, Malik brushed aside MNA Noor Alam Khan’s allegations that the Interior Minister was trying to set the American free, and maintained that he did not phone for the release of the US Consulate employee in Lahore.

Malik said he had ordered an inquiry at the federal level to ascertain about the facts regarding the incident.

Quoting the statement of the accused, he said the US national had fired at the victims in self-defence as the two boys drew close to his car, first from his left side and then from the right, and later took out a pistol.

Malik, however, categorically stated that no one would be allowed to breach law in Pakistan.

“This is Pakistan…the law will take its course what it desires,” Geo TV quoted Malik, as saying.

The minister said it was a provincial matter and the accused was in the custody of the Punjab Police, which he hoped would handle the matter efficiently and professionally.

Meanwhile, MNA Haroon Toor lamented that no political party had condemned the killing of people by the US official in Lahore, adding that the incident was an attack on the sovereignty of Pakistan. (ANI)