WASHINGTON:The United States said Thursday it will try hard to ensure there is no anti-American backlash from a shooting incident in which a US consular worker was charged with the murder of two Pakistani men.
We want to make sure that a tragedy like this does not affect the strategic partnership that were building with Pakistan, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters. And well work as hard as we can to explain that to the Pakistani people, Crowley said.
In Lahore, a US consular worker was charged with the murder of two Pakistani men following their shooting in a busy street, a provincial minister said. The American man told police he shot the two motorcycle riders in self defense after they pulled a pistol on him in an attempted robbery, police officials told AFP.
Crowley gave few details of the event, but confirmed that an American civilian working for the US consulate in Lahore was involved in an incident, while declining to identify the individual.
Theres a Pakistan investigation. We will cooperate fully, he said.
Diplomat to appear in court
The US official is expected to appear in a Pakistan court today (Friday) on double murder charges, police said, a day after he shot dead two men on a motorcycle in what he said was self-defence.
A third Pakistani was crushed to death by a US consulate car that had followed to aid the official following the shooting in a busy street in the eastern city of Lahore.
Police identified the gunman as Raymond Davis and said he described himself as a technical adviser with the consulate. The post mortem of the dead men is under way,! we are waiting for the report, police investigation officer Muneer Ahmed told AFP. Once we get the report and other documents we expect to produce the American before a magistrate for possible remand.
The US official told police he shot the two motorcycle riders in self-defence after they pulled a pistol on him in an attempted robbery, police said.
Ahmed said another murder case had been registered against unknown foreigners in the second vehicle over the killing of the third man.
The post mortem was delayed overnight because of protests by family members of the deceased, he said. More than 100 people blocked the road after the incident by setting tyres on fire to protest against the killing, later moving their picket outside the police station where the Americans car was impounded.
The US embassy in Islamabad has confirmed the man involved was a consular official but said it was still trying to work out with the police what had happened.
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