Pakistan bars US diplomat from leaving

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have barred an American diplomat involved in a fatal road accident from leaving the country, media reported.

American military attache Joseph Emanuel Hall allegedly rammed his vehicle into a motorcycle in Islamabad, killing a local man, Ateeq Beg, and injuring his cousin on April 7.

He escaped arrest due to diplomatic immunity.

On Saturday, a plane was sent by the US to collect Hall but he was denied clearance to leave Pakistan as his name was on a travel “black list”, media reported.

According to news website Dawn, it was the Federal Investigation Agency that had stopped the diplomat from flying out of the country.

The foreign ministry refused to comment on the matter.

The diplomat’s case is pending in court where the victim’s father was attempting to make Hall stand trial.

The development comes amid deteriorating relations between Pakistan and the US after Washington accused its war on terror ally of aiding militants attacking international forces in Afghanistan.

In 2011, CIA contractor Raymond Davis shot and killed two Pakistanis in Lahore and was charged with murder.

After a month and half of detention, Davis flew out of Pakistan after paying blood money as settlement to heirs of the youths he had killed. – dpa