LAHORE, Feb 15: The United States stepped up its efforts on Tuesday to get Raymond Davis released from custody, with Senator John Kerry spending a busy day in the Punjab capital to try and sort out the complicated matter that has strained US-Pak relations.

Mr Kerry, who heads the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, presented a spirited case for the grant of diplomatic immunity to Mr Davis, and said that the American legal system could have a look at the case after the suspect’s return to the United States. He also expressed regrets on behalf of the American government and people over the loss of lives in the “unfortunate incident”.

The former US presidential candidate is scheduled to meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and PML-Q leader Shujaat Husain.

It is learnt that Jamaat-i-Islami Amir Syed Munawwar Hasan and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman are also being approached, while Mr Kerry is also likely to visit the families of Faizan and Fahim, who were killed by Davis.

A diplomatic source said the opposition parties, especially the PML-N, are being contacted to persuade them not to politicise the matter if the government decided in favour of Davis.

The senator spent a busy few hours in the city, capping his activity with a talk with newsmen where he stressed the need for Pakistan to honour the Vienna accords on diplomatic immunity. “Your government is a signatory to the Vienna accords just as the United States,” he reminded insistent Pakistani media representatives one of whom asked Mr Kerry why couldn’t the Americans trust the Pakistani courts. “This is not a matter for the courts,” he said in response to one of a series of pointed questions. The barrage of questions forced the high-profile US emissary to remind the Pakistanis “what he was not here for”.

He conceded that the case could have been handled better. This was in a clear reference to the delay in claiming diplomatic immunity for Davis who was involved in a shooting incident in a crowded Lahore square on Jan 27. The case has led to an outpouring of anti-US sentiment in Pakistan and has created fissures in the government of Prime Minister Gilani.

What did not feature in Senator Kerry’s one-point discussion with mediapersons was the possible US position over the domestic repercussions for the Zardari-Gilani set-up in the event Mr Davis was given immunity.

It is obvious that the government is right now between soaring public emotion at home against the shooting incident involving Mr Davis and the weight of American pressure for the suspect’s release. Weakened by scandals and a failure to address some basic issues such as inflation, a snowballing of the protest into a movement is the last thing that the government wants at this stage.

Reports have linked Mr Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s removal from the position of the foreign minister to the case and Mr Qureshi himself playing the martyr with his post-removal revelation that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had pressurised him to win immunity for Mr Davis. On the eve of the important visit by Senator Kerry, the Information Secretary of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, Ms Fauzia Wahab, had declared that Mr Davis was eligible for diplomatic immunity – a statement that drew a strong reaction from the president and the government which said that what Ms Wahab had said was her personal view.

Senator Kerry used Ms Wahab’s statement to impress upon the Pakistanis and particularly their government ‘facts’ about Mr Davis’s status. He described Mr Qureshi as a friend he had worked with in the past and could call again during his current visit.

Not responding to technical queries about the status of Davis and delayed reaction of the US State Department in claiming diplomatic immunity for him, Mr Kerry promised to prosecute the Consulate employee back in America.

In his media talk, Senator Kerry sought to dispel a perception that he was here to pressurise the Pakistani leadership on the issue or play the role of a referee.