US diplomat involved in fatal accident leaves from Pakistan after being blacklisted

A US diplomat who was involved in a fatal car crash in Pakistan has left from the country, a US State Department spokesperson said on Monday, two days after the diplomat reportedly was barred from leaving the South Asian country.

"We can confirm that the American diplomat who was involved in a tragic car accident on April 7 in Islamabad has departed Pakistan," the spokesperson said 

Colonel Joseph Emanuel Hall was involved in a fatal car accident in Daman-e-Koh, north of Islamabad as he, on April 7, jumped a red light and rammed into a motorcycle killing one Pakistani civilian. 

A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officer on duty stopped the diplomat at the airbase and seized his passport and then resorted to seeking directions from his higher authorities.

Pakistan's Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Raja Khalid has informed the IHC that placing the diplomat's name on the Exit Control List (ECL) is a very lengthy process. As of now, he can neither be arrested nor can he be tried, reported the Dawn.

Khalid even underscored that the American military attache has diplomatic immunity as per the Vienna Convention, adding, he can be tried if only his immunity is withdrawn, according to the report.

On Friday, an Islamabad court ruled that the American's diplomatic immunity might not apply in the traffic accident in which his vehicle hit a motorcycle, killing the 22-year-old driver, the Nation and the Express Tribune newspapers said.

The diplomate, earlier this month, rammed his vehicle into a motorbike after jumping a traffic signal at the intersection of Margalla Road and 7th Avenue which has three persons in Daman-e-Koh, north of Islamabad, ratcheting up the ongoing visa/diplomatic rift between the two countries.

He was reportedly sloshed while driving the white Land Cruiser that hit three motorcyclists at a traffic signal.