 |
| Pakistani demonstrators burn an effigy of US government employee Raymond Davis during a protest in Lahore yesterday |
The US consular employee, whom Pakistani police identified as Raymond Davis, was arrested January 27 after shooting dead Mohammad Faheem and Faizan Haider, claiming he acted in self-defence fearing the pair were about to rob him.
A third Pakistani was knocked down and killed by a vehicle from the US consulate in Lahore that tried to rescue Davis. The American was arrested by police and a case of double murder registered against him.
“Mohamed Faheem’s wife Shumaila this morning took poisonous pills and she was taken to Allied Hospital” in Faisalabad city, local police chief Usman Anwar said.
Hospital doctor Ali Naqi confirmed the suicide attempt, describing her condition is critical.
“We are trying our best but we cannot say anything so far,” Naqi said.
Faheem’s brother Mohamed Waseem said that Shumaila, 18, was plunged into a “severe depression” by her husband’s death.
She took the pills before dawn and was rushed to the hospital early Sunday, he said.
The incident has sparked fury in Pakistan, where anti-Americanism is rampant, stirred by Washington’s alliance with an unpopular government, the war in Afghanistan and US missile attacks targeting Islamists in the northwest.
Washington says its employee belongs to its US embassy’s “technical administrative staff” and is therefore entitled to “full criminal immunity”.
US television network ABC reported that Davis is a private security officer with experience in the US Special Forces. A Pakistani court on Thursday defied pressure from Washington for his release and extended his detention for eight more days.