The Pakistani govenment is reportedly keen to find a way to release Raymond Davis, the American diplomat (according to Washington) or CIA/Blackwater agent (according to the Pakistani rumour mill) who shot dead two Pakistani youths who he claim tried to rob him at gunpoint as he drove through Lahore. Another man was killed after being run down by an embassy vehicle as it rushed to Davis’s aid.

The wife of one of the dead men died a few days later, after swallowing pesticide and reportedly telling assembled journalists at her deathbed that she was distraught at the idea that her husband’s killer might walk free.

The US insists that Davis is protected by diplomatic immunity and must be freed immediately, the Pakistani religious parties are holding regular demonstrations insisting that he must be tried as a murderer (only weeks after rallying to support the killer of Salmaan Taseer, the Punjab governor whose sin was his support for a woman accused of blasphemy). Imran Khan has joined those demanding “justice for Shumaila” – the widow who commited suicide.

No easy way out of this one…