ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday remarked that diplomatic immunity does not allow any person to kill someone.
Justice Aamer Farooq gave the remarks during the hearing of a plea seeking travel ban on the US diplomat who killed a youth in a road accident in the capital.
On April 7, US diplomat, Colonel Joseph Emmanuel Hall hit a motorcyclist as he jumped the traffic signal at the intersection of Margalla Road and 7th Avenue in the federal capital. The incident killed a youth while the pillion rider received serious injuries.
The deceased was identified as 22-year-old Ateeq Baig. A resident of Talhar village in Margalla Hills, his father is employed as a security guard at a public school in Saidpur village.
The diplomat was later released after Foreign Office (FO) said he enjoys diplomatic immunity.
During today’s hearing, the judge came hard on Islamabad police for going soft on the diplomat. “An alcohol test is the first thing to do in a hit-and-run case but the police, in this case, failed to follow procedure because “they trembled seeing a foreigner,” remarked the judge, adding that when a Pakistani is involved in an accident, the police gets inside the vehicle [before anything else] to smell the alcohol.
Earlier in the day, IHC expressed displeasure over the absence of interior ministry’s representative to submit its reply on a
The court observed that no one from the ministry is present despite the court’s notice.
The court asked the attorney general to explain why the interior ministry has not yet taken a decision on a petition seeking US diplomat’s name in Exit Control List (ECL).
The hearing was adjourned till next Tuesday.
After the accident on April 7, the police released the US diplomat because the Vienna convention provided him immunity.
According to Article 29 of Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, the person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. “He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving state shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity.”
Furthermore, the Foreign Office summoned US Ambassador to Pakistan David Hale to record “strong protest” against the killing of the Pakistani citizen.
