Pakistan court avoids ruling on US gunman immunity

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LAHORE, Mar 14 (AFP): A Pakistan court declined to rule Monday on the diplomatic immunity of a CIA contractor held on murder charges, throwing the decision to a lower court that has said the trial should proceed. Islamabad's foreign ministry had been expected to clarify the diplomatic status of American Raymond Davis who has been remanded in jail since shooting dead two Pakistani men in a busy Lahore street in January. Davis claims he acted in self-defence and US authorities have pressed for his release on grounds of diplomatic immunity, in a case that has fractured fragile diplomatic ties between the two nations. The government refused to back the diplomatic claim Monday, leading the high court to dismiss the case and bounce it to a lower criminal court trying Davis for murder.