ISLAMABAD - The detention of double murder accused US national Raymond Davis is lawful as he is not entitled to diplomatic immunity while US Embassy is unlawfully trying to determine Raymonds diplomatic status in the light of Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, foreign affairs experts and officials told The Nation. During a telephonic conversation with this newspaper on Saturday, former foreign secretary general and ex-senator Akram Zaki cited Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 to term the US spys detention as lawful. According to him, Vienna Convention 1963 granted immunity to the senior officials of diplomatic consulates in the line of their official duties. However, the diplomatic immunity is not applicable even if a senior official of a consulate commits a serious crime thus becoming liable to be arrested, said Akram Zaki. In addition, he added, the technical staff of a diplomatic consulate does not hold any diplomatic immunity from prosecution according to the Vienna Convention 1963. There is nothing more heinous a crime than murder and Raymond has committed the same. He is a technical staff member of US Consulate and does not hold any immunity in the light of Vienna Convention 1963. Of course, his detention is lawful and he can be tried according to the Pakistani laws, Zaki said while referring to the US Embassys press release issued on January 28 2011 that identified the double murder accused as a staff member of US Consulate General, Lahore. Keeping aforementioned convention in view, it gets confirmed that the US spy is not immune from trial in Pakistan. However, on January 29 2011, the embassy, apparently in order to save the its nationals skin, backtracked from its statement and contended that Davis was a US diplomat 'assigned to the US Embassy Islamabad. Akram Zaki said that although under the existing international laws, an official business visa could also be issued on a diplomatic passport but diplomatic immunity cannot be exercised in this case. The Nation had confirmed from officials at Pakistan Embassy in New York that Raymond Davis had arrived in Pakistan on an official business visa. Ordinarily, the US authorities issue B1 or B2 visas on diplomatic passports in case diplomatic visa is not issued to any particular official(s). The former diplomat clarified that Vienna Convention 1961 on Diplomatic Relations and not the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963, provided diplomatic immunity to the officials of diplomatic embassies only who were notified as diplomats by the foreign office of the country they were performing their duties in. He said that the Raymond case bore relevance with Vienna Convention 1963, for Raymond was a US Consulate staff member. A senior serving official in Pakistans Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) told The Nation that the US Embassy was trying to unlawfully determine Raymond Davis diplomatic status in the light of Vienna Convention 1961. This move is unlawful because the legal position and diplomatic status cannot be changed. Raymond Davis had entered Pakistan as a technical staff member of US Consulate Lahore and this position cannot be changed and the question of immunity does not arise therefore, he said.