ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Mofa) on Thursday, after a meeting following the hit and run case, decided against putting the United States (US) diplomat Colonel Joseph Emanuel Hall’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL), reported a local news channel.
Earlier this month, the defence and air attaché at the US Embassy ignored a traffic signal at the intersection of Margalla Road and 7th Avenue in Islamabad while he was drunk. As a result, his car had hit a motorcyclist, killing him on the spot while the diplomat ran for it.
According to details, concerned authorities during a meeting which was held in order to weigh the situation concluded that the diplomat’s name should not be put on the no-fly list.
Sources said that US diplomats are exempt under the Vienna Convention, while Pakistani envoys have also used this exemption in Iran and New Delhi over cases of similar nature which means that Islamabad is bound by a treaty to provide similar exemption.
The deceased was identified as 22-year old Ateeq Baig from Talhar village in the Margalla Hills. Ateeq’s father works in the capacity of a security guard at a government school in Saidpur village.
