–US embassy confirms Col Joseph has left Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Military Attache Col Joseph Emanuel Hall, who killed a motorcyclist in Islamabad, left Pakistan on Monday evening, the United States (US) embassy confirmed.
On April 7, the US diplomat had hit a motorcyclist with his Land Cruiser SUV as he jumped the traffic signal at the intersection of Margalla Road and 7th Avenue in the federal capital. The incident killed a youth, identified as 22-year-old Ateeq Baig, while the pillion rider received serious injuries.
According to sources, Col Joseph has been flown away to the US through Nur Khan Airbase after his name was dropped from the blacklist. It was added that the local police have handed over all relevant record to the US officials.
Later on, the US embassy confirmed the development that Col Joseph has left Pakistan.
Hall is a certified envoy who enjoys diplomatic immunity, the sources reasoned regarding his release, adding that Pakistani laws are not applicable to him. Sources told media that the US government had refused to exempt Joseph from the diplomatic immunity.
Earlier on Saturday, a United Airforce C130 airplane had returned from the Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi without the diplomat as the Interior Ministry and FIA refused to issue him a no-objection certificate (NOC), sources said.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on May 11, on a petition filed by the deceased’s father, had ruled that the US diplomat does not have absolute immunity in the country. On April 24, the federal government informed the IHC that name of the US diplomat had been placed on the blacklist. The court had also granted two weeks to the Ministry of Interior Affairs to decide over placing his name on the Exit Control List (ECL).
Last Friday, Pakistan had imposed travel restrictions on American diplomats in Pakistani cities in response to the US imposing travel restrictions on Pakistani diplomats. According to the changes, American diplomats will also have to take prior permission to travel — something which was earlier done in special cases — will not be afforded the luxury of ‘fast-track’ luggage clearance at airports, will not be allowed to have more than one passport and will stay in the country strictly as per their visa date.