Pakistan suspect's CIA outing threatens US Ops?
LAHORE -- A Pakistani security official tells CBS News that revelations about an American man charged with murder in Lahore being on the CIA payroll put an entire network of U.S. operatives in Pakistan at "danger of being exposed because of greater public scrutiny and much more attention than before."
CBS News confirmed reports on Monday that Raymond Davis was employed by the CIA, though it remains unclear whether he was a contractor for the agency or a full-time employee. He was allegedly part of a secret CIA team based in Lahore, conducting surveillance on militant groups in the area.
He was arrested for the Jan. 27 shooting deaths of two Pakistani men, who he claims were armed and attempting to rob him at the time. The U.S. government insists he was a member of staff at the U.S. consulate in Lahore and enjoys full diplomatic immunity from any prosecution in the country of his posting -- and therefore has demanded he be returned to U.S. soil immediately.
The security official who spoke to CBS News in Lahore warned that the case of the former U.S. Special Forces soldier would "receive much greater attention than before."
"I am sure any sighting of Americans in Pakistan will immediately prompt ordinary people to ask, 'Is this again someone from the CIA?'"
"The Davis case has badly undermined the CIA's work in Pakistan," a senior Western diplomat in Islamabad tells CBS. "The effort (by the CIA) has been set back by many years. I would not be surprised if Americans in Pakistan are now all seen to be CIA, unless proven otherwise."
The CIA, America's premier intelligence agency, is deeply unpopular in Pakistan, principally for its links to the scores of missile attacks that have been carried out by pilotless drone aircraft in Pakistan since Sept. 11, 2001. The strikes target suspected militant sites along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
While Pakistan's civil rulers and the country's armed forces publically oppose the drone attacks, Western diplomats claim that there are private agreements between the two sides which allow the strikes to continue.
The CIA link to Davis has served only to stoke public anger.
College student Sharafat Jameel, protesting Tuesday in the central Lahore square where the Jan. 27 shootings took place, vowed revenge.
"Every Pakistani will be anxious to seek revenge from Raymond Davis and the CIA. They have killed innocent Pakistanis," Jameel told CBS News, echoing sentiments heard widely in the country. "Pakistan must bring Raymond Davis to justice immediately."
A provincial official of the government of Punjab -- the administrative region where Davis is under arrest, said "extraordinary measures and unique precautions" had been taken to "secure" the American prisoner.
The official said the guards directly overseeing Davis are not allowed to carry weapons. There are two external guard checkpoints, both manned by armed security personnel, beyond the inner circle.