Raymond Davis said to be CIA operative

Raymond Davis 'was acting head of CIA in Pakistan'
A US intelligence agent arrested after shooting dead two men was the acting head of the CIA in Pakistan and had been gathering intelligence for drone attacks, according to intelligence sources.

Raymond Davis, a 36-year-old former special forces soldier, had taken command after the CIA station chief's cover was blown, according to reports.
American officials insist he is entitled to diplomatic immunity and that he be released immediately.
Davis has been held for almost a month in a Lahore prison while a court decides his status.
The case has provoked a surge in anti-American hostility and spawned a wave of conspiracy theories.

Reports have revealed that Raymond Davis, the employee of the United States Pakistan embassy who was jailed for killing two Pakistani citizens, worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.

On Tuesday foreign media, as well as U.S. media that had earlier been requested by the Obama administration not to reveal any details of the case, said that Mr. Davis was involved in covert CIA operations aimed at intelligence-gathering and surveillance on “militant groups deep inside the country.”

Quoting American government officials the New York Times said that Mr. Davis was a retired Special Forces soldier who had formerly served as a CIA contractor, including time at Blackwater Worldwide, the private security firm that is now called Xe Services.

According to sources, Mr. Davis’ visa described his job as a “regional affairs officer,” said to be a frequently used job description for CIA-related officials. As per his visa application Mr. Davis was reported to have held a U.S. diplomatic passport and was classified as “administrative and technical staff,” a category that is said to “typically [grant] diplomatic immunity to its holder.”

Mr. Davis was arrested on January 27 after he fatally shot two men on a motorcycle in a bustling Lahore neighbourhood. According to the account of the incident put out by U.S. officials Mr. Davis was driving alone an isolated area and pulled over at a busy traffic intersection.

At that point two Pakistani men with weapons allegedly got off from their motorcycles and approached Mr. Davis, who killed them with his Glock pistol in what was described as “an act of self-defence against armed robbers,” the New York Times reported.

However the Pakistan’s The Daily Times published a different account of events based on the Lahore Police Department’s crime report, in which it said that Mr. Davis admitted to the police that he shot the two men, stepped out of the car to take photographs of them, and then called the U.S. consulate in Lahore for assistance.

Further the Daily Times story suggested that the victims had been “shot several times in the back, a detail that some Pakistani officials say proves the killings were murder.” The report also suggested that after the shooting Mr. Davis climbed back in his car and sought to escape but was “overpowered” at a traffic junction nearby.

The incident has since sparked a diplomatic crisis, with CIA Director Leon Panetta, Chief of Army Staff Mike Mullen and even U.S. President Barack Obama making pleas for Mr. Davis’ release.

Yet public opinion in Pakistan has primarily comprised anger against the U.S. so-called “secret war” in the country, including the highly unpopular drone strikes in the border area near Afghanistan. Recent days have witnessed “hundreds of Pakistanis” participating in street protests and calling for Mr. Davis to face trial, reports said.

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Many Pakistanis have questioned whether Davis was really the victim of an attempted robbery – as he told police – and exactly why he was driving around Lahore with a Glock handgun in a rented car.

This week it emerged that he was employed by the CIA and that he was engaged in an undercover operation.

On Tuesday The Nation newspaper, which has close links to Pakistan's military establishment, claimed one of his main tasks was to keep the CIA network intact in the tribal agencies, where al-Qaeda-linked militants maintain bases, and that he was familiar with their local languages.

Pakistan authorities say they recovered items including a make-up kit, long-range radio, a GPRS system and a camera containing photographs of sensitive locations.

Telephone records suggest he was in contact with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and the Pakistan Taliban in South Waziristan.

Even Pakistan's spies say they had no idea what Davis was doing in Lahore.

A senior intelligence source told The Daily Telegraph he was unknown to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate and was operating outside the normal agreements between the two countries.

"We want the US to come clean on what exactly he was up to," he said.

American officials initially said Mr Davis worked for the US consulate in Lahore before claiming he worked for the embassy in Islamabad, and was entitled to full immunity.

However, The New York Times on Monday reported that Davis was part of a CIA operation tracking Islamist extremists in eastern Pakistan, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, the virulently anti-Indian group blamed for the bloody 2008 siege of Mumbai.

Opposition politicians and relatives of Davis's victims said the government should address suspicions that he also worked for Xe, a US security firm formerly known as Blackwater.

"Davis deserves no pardon ... We knew from day one that he was working for the CIA and Blackwater," said Mohammad Waseem, brother of Mohammad Faheem.