US may freeze aid to Pak if Davis isn't released

A resolution introduced in the United States House of Representatives seeks to freeze American aid to Pakistan, until its diplomat Raymond Davis, facing murder charges in a Lahore court is released.

"The House of Representatives calls on the government of Pakistan to release Raymond Davis in accordance with international standards of diplomatic protocol and, until such time, all US monetary assistance to Pakistan should be frozen," says the House Resolution (no 145) introduced in the House of Representatives last week.

The resolution moved by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs for consideration.

The resolution says that Pakistan is among the world's leading recipients of US aid having received more than $ 10.7 billion between 2001 and 2010, including $ 6 billion development and humanitarian aid.

On March 1, 2009, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told an Afghan interviewer that "the Inter Services Intelligence's contacts with some of these extremist groups (such as those led by Hekmatyar, Haqqani, and others) are a real concern for the US", the resolution notes.

The resolution says that on January 27, Raymond Davis was attacked by two armed men in Lahore, and he shot and killed both men in self-defense.

The detained American diplomat Davis, the resolution argues, is a US veteran and former Special Forces soldier.

US President Barack Obama called Raymond Davis 'our diplomat' and said that 'we expect Pakistan (to recognize) Mr Davis as a diplomat', the resolution said.

Relations between Pakistan and the US were strained in January following the arrest of suspected Central Intelligence Agency contractor Raymond Davis, who was charged with murder for shooting and killing two armed men in Lahore.