Who paid Rs240m ‘diyat’ to heirs in Raymond case?

ISLAMABAD: American spy Raymond Davis’s book, “The Contractor: How I landed in Pakistani prison and ignited a Diplomatic Crisis”, leaves unanswered a leading question as to who provided the “diyat” (blood money), US$2.34 million (over Rs240m), that was paid to the heirs of the three slain Pakistanis to win his freedom.

Meanwhile, all the politicians who were mentioned in the book and who otherwise continue to attract abuses for “selling” Pakistan for petty gains, emerge as a respectful lot in Davis’s narration as they were either reluctant or reticent to help his release.

What is known is that the American government had refused to pay the “diyat” saying that its law does not permit it. If it is true, then the question arises who funded this project – the federal government of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Punjab government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), former ISI chief Ahmad Shuja Pasha or the Intelligence Bureau (IB) or some other individual or institution.

It is noteworthy that the IB was not in the loop and had nothing to do with Raymond Davis’s affair as the whole operation, the book establishes, to get out the spy was conducted by Pasha — from convincing relatives of the victims into accepting the “diyat” to taking the accused from the court to the airport. There is not even a slight reference in the memoir about the IB.

At the time, Nawaz Sharif did not hold any government position but Asif Ali Zardari was the president of Pakistan, Yousuf Raza Gilani was the prime minister, Pervez Ashfaque Kayani was the army chief.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif then happened to be in London.

Each of the 18 heirs of the victims was paid $130,000 of the total diyat of $2.34 million.

The sessions judge asked the relatives of the victims to present documents proving their identity, then gave each of them a receipt showing the amount of money that was to be doled out: $130,000 each for a total of $2,340,000, the largest amount of blood money ever awarded in Pakistan, the book said.

Among the politicians, Rana Sanaullah, who held the same Punjab cabinet position that he is now presiding, earned kudos for his “role” in this episode.

Davis lamented it and wrote Sanaullah “tried to use the photographs allegedly found in my camera as evidence against me, portraying them as the handiwork of a spy.”

No major part has been attributed to Nawaz Sharif and Zardari in this drama. Davis only noted a “rumor” that both these leaders were aware of his release deal but did not mention any role they played in his liberty.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi (now vice chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or PTI) also earned respect for his role. The author dubbed him as “opportunistic” and wrote that Qureshi didn’t act like much of a friend (considered by John Kerry as he had accommodated his son, Zain, as an intern in his Senate office).

“Rather than giving in to the government’s wish that I be granted diplomatic immunity, he’d actually resigned his position three days after the incident at Mozang Chowk, and two weeks later he remained undeterred.”

Later, the book stated, Qureshi said after his resignation as foreign minister that “it is time to not bow down before the US and the need of the hour is to live with raised heads.”

About the president and premier, Davis wrote that also like Zardari, Gilani wanted nothing to do with the growing diplomatic crisis the shooting had ignited.

“Two days after Zardari had issued his statement about my case, Gilani said much the same on the floor of the National Assembly.

Having pronounced the matter sub judice, or under consideration by a court and therefore protected from public debate, the two leaders of Pakistan’s government had refused to take a stance on the issue, passing it on to the Pakistani judicial system.”

The Jamaat-e-Islami also twice found mention in the book.

“Activists from the socially conservative political party Jamaat-e-Islami gathered to protest outside the hospital where Kanwal (the widow of one of the shooting victim Muhammad Faheem) had committed suicide by swallowing a lethal pioson). Others demonstrated outside the consulate in Lahore.

Raymond writes he can only speculate as to why the story (of her suicide) remained hidden for so long. My best guess is that Pasha forced the media to sit on it until it was needed to incite anti-American sentiment. Releasing the news the day after the incident when people were already protesting in the streets would have been redundant.

But with the clock winding down on my physical remand and with the police having failed to get me to confess to a crime, this must have seemed like a good time to rile up the masses and apply some pressure on the government. If that was in fact the Pakistani government’s plan, it worked.

Despite the ominous involvement of most powerful players in the episode to get Davis freed at a fast track, the sessions judge, who heard the case in the Kot Lakhpat jail of Lahore, also acted with respect, under the law.

According to the book, after each relative had signed the necessary paperwork, the judge asked if any of them had been coerced into doing it. “All eighteen relatives said no.

The judge also reminded both the defense and the prosecution that they were entitled to object. Neither side did. . .”

Hussain Haqqani, who was Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington at the time, also played a good role unlike the one he has generally been accused of by his detractors. Working on the problem from the opposite side of the table, Panetta (the then CIA chief), Davis wrote, sat down with Haqqani, on February 21 and “asked for his assistance in getting me out of jail. Haqqani was largely viewed as being pro-American, but in this instance he wasn’t so accommodating.”

At another point, the book said, for a US government official or contractor to get a visa into Pakistan, the request only had to be approved by Pakistan’s ambassador, who had lived in the United States since 2002 and was generally viewed as being pro-American.

Encouraged by the Pakistani government in Islamabad to take a relaxed stance when granting visas to American officials, Haqqani had approved mine and countless others, it added.