Reports circulating in the electronic media say that the US has warned of a snapping of diplomatic relations with Pakistan unless Raymond Davis, the American citizen accused of killing two Pakistanis in broad daylight in Lahore, is set free. The warning that also contained the cancellation of President Zardaris visit to the US was first published by an American newspaper, then confirmed by a US official, but later half-heartedly denied. This confirms the suspicion that Davis might be a high-profile intelligence operative whom Washington wants, even at the cost of ties with a key player in countering the war on terror, to be spared of any questioning in order to avoid causing it embarrassment. Besides, according to news reports, Ambassador Hussain Haqqani has been called to the State Department to register the American threat with Pakistan. While it might sound quite scary to go to the extent of ignoring the threat and estranging the superpower on whose very crutches the ruling circles in Islamabad have become accustomed to lean, whether for the purpose of staying in power or of maintaining financial viability, in the US warning lies a way out of the mess that our association in its phoney war on terror has landed us into. Rather than appreciating the sacrifices Pakistan is being constantly called upon to make, as a result of our participation in this losing venture, the US generally chooses to find faults with our strategy of, as it perceives, doing less than its expectations of us, even if coming up to them would work against our core national interests. The loss of precious lives of personnel of Pakistan armed forces, pressurised into launching military operation in FATA, and security officials in frequent terrorist bombings runs into well over 3000, not to talk of a large number of civilians who have been killed. The Thursday blast at Kohat, one of the most targeted towns of the militants, alone has claimed 35 lives of army recruits. The US has taken us for granted, thanks to our leaderships weaknesses. It has run roughshod over our legitimate pleas to intercede with India to settle Kashmir and the ensuing water dispute on the basis of law and justice. Rather to spite us, it has gone out of the way to showering favours on it and even turning a blind eye to its destabilising efforts in Balochistan. There is thus no justification for the Pakistan government to relent on the question of Davis, especially in the light of the dubious role that he had been playing in the country, his non-diplomatic status, the police investigation confirming that the murders he committed were not in self-defence and the court sending him to a 14-day judicial remand. Whether the US carries out the threat or not, Islamabad is not left with any option but to go ahead with the trial. The break-off of relations should be welcome in the sense that it would enable us to get out of the debilitating war and provide us with an opportunity to stand on our feet in both financial and political matters. With the human and natural resources that we are gifted with, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.