Pakistan wants to arrest US embassy driver (VIDEO)

A Pakistani judge has ordered the arrest of the driver of a U.S. embassy vehicle which killed a bystander at the scene of a shooting by a US official.

The vehicle — a Toyota Land Cruiser with tinted windows — is said to have struck Obaidur Rahman on its way to assist Raymond Davis, accused of shooting and killing two Pakistanis during an alleged attempted robbery in the eastern city of Lahore last month.

The United States says Davis acted in self-defense and is a diplomat who should be released immediately under international conventions.

But a Pakistani court on Thursday delayed until next month a ruling on whether Davis, a US State Department employee, being held in jail facing murder over the incident, qualifies for diplomatic immunity. The court will now consider Davis's status on March 14.

The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, said Thursday that the U.S. was disappointed the Pakistani government did not certify that Davis had diplomatic immunity, VOA reported. In a statement, Munter said the U.S. had made its position on the case clear.

The ruling prolongs a diplomatic crisis threatening the two nations' counterterrorism alliance.

According to the Washington Post, the dispute over Davis, a former Special Forces soldier who U.S. officials say was an embassy staff member, has rattled the strategic relationship between Pakistan and the United States. The White House has postponed a meeting of Afghan, Pakistani and American officials planned for next week in Washington, and Congress is threatening cuts in funding to Pakistan, the recipient of billions of dollars in U.S. economic and military aid.

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) arrived in Pakistan this week to ramp up pressure by the United States for Davis' release, but call for a resolution "in the next few days"  was scuttled when lawyers for the Pakistani government, which had indicated that it would support Davis's immunity claim at the Thursday hearing, said they needed more time to prepare a position.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's office said Wednesday there might be another solution to the case — that relatives of the two killed Pakistanis pardon the American in return for compensation. Such a solution is in accordance with Islamic law.

But brothers of the victims ruled out a possible deal Thursday, telling reporters they want justice in the case.

Davis, 26, has claimed that he acted in self-defense during the incident on Jan. 27 in which he shot two motorcyclists who he says tried to rob him. He was arrested with a loaded Glock handgun and other security gear and reportedly driving alone in an impoverished area of Lahore not frequented by diplomats.

In this video of his questioning released by Pakistani police, Davis identifies himself as an employee at the consulate in Lahore, saying, "I just work as a consultant there."

But Pakistani police have rejected Davis' version of events and say that their investigation found it to be a case of murder.

The incident, complicated by the death of the third Pakistani struck by a U.S. diplomatic vehicle rushing to Davis's aid and the suicide of the widow of one of them men killed by Davis, has inflamed anti-American sentiment across the country.