Pakistan: US diplomat involved in car accident in Islamabad stopped from flying out of country
The Interior Ministry said Colonel Joseph Hall was on a blacklist.
A United States diplomat, whose car hit a motorcycle in Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad and killed a 22-year-old man last month, was on Sunday stopped from flying out on an American military aircraft by the Federal Investigation Agency, reported Dawn. This comes just two days after Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry withdrew seven special privileges provided to US diplomats.
Colonel Joseph Hall, a defence attaché, accompanied by eight people from the US Embassy had reached Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi to board a special aircraft that had arrived from Bagram base in Afghanistan. An unidentified official said an FIA officer on duty held back Hall’s passport and sought directions from senior officials. Hall was not granted permission to leave, according to Dawn, and he later returned to the US Embassy in Islamabad.
Pakistan’s Interior Ministry said Hall is on a blacklist, and was not allowed to leave because of the criminal case pending against him, reported The New York Times. On Friday, the Islamabad High Court said that Hall did not have absolute immunity in the country. The High Court gave the Interior Ministry to decide if Hall’s name should be placed on the Exit Control List (a travel ban list), according to The Nation. The Foreign Office has already written to the US State Department for withdrawal of Hall’s immunity.