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Pakistani authorities charged
him with murder, but the Obama administration has
insisted he is an "administrative and technical
official" attached to its Lahore consulate and has
diplomatic immunity.
Based on interviews in the US and
Pakistan, the Guardian can confirm that the
36-year-old former special forces soldier is
employed by the CIA. "It's beyond a shadow of a
doubt," said a senior Pakistani intelligence
official. The revelation may complicate American
efforts to free Davis, who insists he was acting in
self-defence against a pair of suspected robbers,
who were both carrying guns.
Pakistani prosecutors accuse the spy
of excessive force, saying he fired 10 shots and got
out of his car to shoot one man twice in the back as
he fled. The man's body was found 30 feet from his
motorbike.
"It went way beyond what we define as
self-defence. It was not commensurate with the
threat," a senior police official involved in the
case told the Guardian.
The Pakistani government is aware of
Davis's CIA status yet has kept quiet in the face of
immense American pressure to free him under the
Vienna convention. Last week President Barack Obama
described Davis as "our diplomat" and dispatched his
chief diplomatic troubleshooter, Senator John Kerry,
to Islamabad. Kerry returned home empty-handed.
Many Pakistanis are outraged at the
idea of an armed American rampaging through their
second-largest city. Analysts have warned of
Egyptian-style protests if Davis is released. The
government, fearful of a backlash, says it needs
until 14 March to decide whether Davis enjoys
immunity.
A third man was crushed by an
American vehicle as it rushed to Davis's aid.
Pakistani officials believe its occupants were CIA
because they came from the house where Davis lived
and were armed.
The US refused Pakistani demands to
interrogate the two men and on Sunday a senior
Pakistani intelligence official said they had left
the country. "They have flown the coop, they are
already in America," he said.
ABC News reported that the men had
the same diplomatic visas as Davis. It is not
unusual for US intelligence officers, like their
counterparts round the world, to carry diplomatic
passports.
The US has accused Pakistan of
illegally detaining him and riding roughshod over
international treaties. Angry politicians have
proposed slashing Islamabad's $1.5bn (£900m) annual
aid.
But Washington's case is hobbled by
its resounding silence on Davis's role. He served in
the US special forces for 10 years before leaving in
2003 to become a security contractor. A senior
Pakistani official said he believed Davis had worked
with Xe, the firm formerly known as Blackwater.
Pakistani suspicions about Davis's
role were stoked by the equipment police confiscated
from his car: an unlicensed pistol, a long-range
radio, a GPS device, an infrared torch and a camera
with pictures of buildings around Lahore.
"This is not the work of a diplomat.
He was doing espionage and surveillance activities,"
said the Punjab law minister, Rana Sanaullah, adding
he had "confirmation" that Davis was a CIA employee.
A number of US media outlets learned
about Davis's CIA role but have kept it under wraps
at the request of the Obama administration. A
Colorado television station, 9NEWS, made a
connection after speaking to Davis's wife. She
referred its inquiries to a number in Washington
which turned out to be the CIA. The station removed
the CIA reference from its website at the request of
the US government.
Some reports, quoting Pakistani
intelligence officials, have suggested that the men
Davis killed, Faizan Haider, 21, and Muhammad Faheem,
19, were agents of Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence spy agency (ISI) and had orders to
shadow Davis because he crossed a "red line".
A senior police official confirmed US
claims that the men were petty thieves –
investigators found stolen mobiles, foreign currency
and weapons on them – but did not rule out an
intelligence link.
A senior ISI official denied the dead
men worked for the spy agency but admitted the CIA
relationship had been damaged. "We are a sovereign
country and if they want to work with us, they need
to develop a trusting relationship on the basis of
equality. Being arrogant and demanding is not the
way to do it," he said.
Tensions between the spy agencies
have been growing. The CIA Islamabad station chief
was forced to leave in December after being named in
a civil lawsuit. The ISI was angered when its chief,
General Shuja Pasha, was named in a New York lawsuit
related to the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Although the two spy services
co-operate in the CIA's drone campaign along the
Afghan border, there has not been a drone strike
since 23 January – the longest lull since June 2009.
Experts are unsure whether both events are linked.
Davis awaits his fate in Kot Lakhpat
jail in Lahore. Pakistani officials say they have
taken exceptional measures to ensure his safety,
including ringing the prison with paramilitary
Punjab Rangers. The law minister, Sanaullah, said
Davis was in a "high security zone" and was
receiving food from visitors from the US consulate.
Sanaullah said 140 foreigners were in
the facility, many on drug charges. Press reports
have speculated that the authorities worry the US
could try to spring Davis in a "Hollywood-style
sting". "All measures for his security have been
taken," said the ISI official. "He's as safe as can
be." |
