ISLAMABAD, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Thursday confirmed that an American diplomat, who was involved in a fatal road accident in the capital Islamabad last month, has left the country after the U.S. assured he will face charges in his own country.
The U.S. defense attache Joseph Emanuel Hall had crushed a motorcyclist in Islamabad while violating red signals on April 7.
The Islamabad High Court had instructed the government not to allow the diplomat to leave the country until his case is decided by the court.
Father of the deceased had approached the court to bar the diplomat from leaving the country. However, the government insisted that Hall was a declared diplomat and enjoyed diplomatic immunity.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said that the diplomats have diplomatic immunity while serving in the country of their accreditation.
"In this context, Col Joseph was allowed to leave the country based on this diplomatic immunity. The U.S. has assured us that it will initiate criminal and administrative action against Col. Joseph in U.S. courts," the spokesman said during his weekly press briefing.
To a question about tit-for-tat travel restrictions on diplomats by the U.S. and Pakistan, he said the U.S. State Department has imposed travel restrictions on Pakistani diplomats in Washington starting from May 11, 2018.
"The Diplomatic staff and their families will now have to seek prior permission for travelling outside the radius of 25 miles (approx 40 kms). As a matter of reciprocity, U.S. diplomats in Pakistan have also been asked to seek prior permission for movement exceeding 25 miles limit. We hope that the matter can be resolved through dialogue," Faisal said.
