By Anna Scheglov
Pakistani online newspaper DAWNNews (dawn.com) had a lot to say on the case of Raymond Davis. Overall being objective and informative, ‘Dawn’ had a good collection of articles. Many of these were centered around Mr. Davis’ immunity, if its valid or not and if his CIA link affects it, and around the U.S. wanting him back but being hindered. There was one article that talked about how Qureshi studied the Vienna Conventions and Pakistan’s Diplomatic Law and how, after this, he decided/ realized that Davis wasn’t valid for immunity. The last article, from the 23rd, related the opposite, stating how the CIA link does not actually affect Davis’ immunity.
In many of the articles, there would also be a sentence or two, near the very end, mentioning the third person killed, the pedestrian killed by someone on their way to help Davis. There was only one article that had this comment near the beginning of the piece.
A few other things I noticed was how the articles are all covered with embedded links to other articles by ‘Dawn’. Also, all the articles used the same exact photo (by reuters) except for the last article, which was taken from the same event but by the staff at ‘Dawn’. There is a very good timeline article, that has a concise, effective introductory summation of the case. But the very next article contradicts it, stating the shootings happened Jan 27th, when the timeline had said they occurred the 26th. Likewise, the very first article had a comment on how one of the men killed was thought to be a street robber, and how the men killed had weapons too, but that is never brought up again.
“On the two Pakistanis, police found two pistols, magazine belts and four mobile phones, at least two of which they believe could have been stolen, an officer said on condition of anonymity. The officer described one of them as a street robber “wanted” in connection with three or four incidents and the other as his accomplice.”
Lastly, an article I noticed about the Raymon Davis case that used interesting techniques, was one that had a paragraph on how one of the widows killed herself.
“The wife of Mohammed Faheem, one of the two men shot dead by Davis, committed suicide on Sunday by taking poison. Doctors said that before she died, Shumaila Faheem told them she feared Davis would be released without trial.”
This emotional excerpt is attempting, I think, to connect with the viewers and make it seem like her last wishes NEED to be fulfilled. There was another article, fully devoted to the topic of Shumaila Faheem, and the entire piece is about why she killed herself. What she did, and what she said in the hospital.
“When she was brought to the hospital, Ms Kanwal told newsmen that she had decided to end her life in protest against “favourable treatment being accorded to the killer of her husband by police and reports that he will be set free.The killer is being as a guest at the police station. I need justice and blood for the blood of my husband. I want blood for blood. The way my husband was shot, his killer should be shot in the same fashion,” she had told reporters at the hospital.”
Ms. Kanwal and Faheem Ahmed had been married for a mere six months. This led me to think that maybe this is also a political statement , and not just a personal one. Actually, Ms. Kanwall said in a statement to a doctor, “I do not expect any justice from this government, That is why I want to kill myself.”
This sort of article brings more emotion to the court case and so ignites tensions even more.
Doing a check into Russian Times to see if they had anything on the case, I found one article. It was very straightforward and moderately encompassing. However, there is no mention of the third person that died in connection, and there is more detailed information on the deaths; “Firing over 10 shots and blatantly making efforts to shoot them repeatedly in the back.” Also, I thought it was interesting but this article said that the shootings happened on January 25th, which disagrees with both of The News submissions.
