“No Pressure in Accepting Blood Money”

Quite an interesting statement came from Akram, the brother of Faheem, the young man killed by the alleged CIA contractor Raymond Davis in Lahore in January 2011. Faheem’s brother said that there was no pressure on the family for accepting the “diyat” (blood money) from the killer. This statement was issued to the media from an undisclosed location.

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Two months after killing Faheem and Faizan, in what was called an act of self-defense, Raymond Davis was suddenly released by a trail court in Punjab as the families of the deceased appeared in the court and produced in written their declaration that they had received diyat for the killings and therefore had pardoned Davis. In matter of hours, Davis was released and sent out of the country. At the same time, the entire families of the victims that claimed receiving blood money (something yet to be verified) disappeared, rumored to have left the country also.

The latest news about the statement of Akram has been published in the popular daily Dawn today (April 02, 2011). While telling that the money was accepted without any pressure, Akram immediately also contradicts himself by telling that they accepted the money and pardoned Davis because his family had been told that if they didn’t, Pakistan may suffer the same fate as Libya.

Akram was also asked a question about the role of the Punjab Government in brokering the deal. But he said is said to have declined answering it and saying that he knew nothing about it. Akram claims that his family accepted the money for “the sake of Pakistan”. He also told that his family was hiding due to security concerns. Of course, he didn’t tell who was/were after his family. However, it became clear again that for some people in our country, it is no problem saying that A is not B but A is B.