LAHORE, Pakistan — A judge Friday ordered the arrest of the driver of a U.S. vehicle that struck and killed a Pakistani while rushing to help an American detained in a pair of fatal shootings, a lawyer for the victim’s family said.
The U.S. insists the American accused in the shootings, Raymond Allen Davis, was acting in self-defense against robbers and qualifies for diplomatic immunity because he worked for the embassy.
Authorities say they do not know who was in the vehicle that rushed to help Davis, and the Americans have said little on the matter, other than acknowledging the car was driven by a U.S. Embassy staff member.
The driver has not been identified. Employees of the U.S. mission who get into trouble are typically on the first plane out of the country.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Courtney Beale on Friday declined to comment on the order other than saying the death “is under investigation.”
Lawyer Asad Manzoor Butt said the family of the struck bystander, Ibadur Rehman, filed a petition with the Lahore High Court seeking to draw attention to his death, which has received far less scrutiny than the deaths of the two men shot Jan. 27 in Lahore.
The court’s chief justice, Ijaz Chaudhry, issued the arrest order, Butt said. On Thursday, the same court gave Pakistan’s government three more weeks to determine whether Davis has diplomatic immunity, as America maintains.
In Lahore on Friday, some 200 protesters associated with Jamaat-u-Dawa, a charity alleged to be a front for the banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, demanded Davis be hanged.
Lashkar-e-Taiba is blamed in the deadly 2008 attacks in Bombay, India, and Pakistan’s government insists it has cracked down on it and affiliated groups.
Bombay is known in India as Mumbai.
Davis faces potential murder charges. He is in a Pakistani jail and is on a list barring him from leaving the country, officials said.
Front Section, Pages 7 on 02/19/2011