ISLAMABAD:The Islamabad High Court has reserved its judgement on a petition to put on the exit control list the name of the US diplomat, who killed a Pakistani in Islamabad.
On April 7, Colonel Joseph Emmanuel, a US military attaché, was driving a car that hit a motorcycle, killing 22-year-old Ateeq Baig and injuring his cousin Raheel.
Ateeq’s father Muhammad Idrees filed the petition, asking for Emmanuel’s name to be put on the ECL so he cannot leave the country. Justice Aamir Farooq heard the petition.
The court asked Idrees’s lawyer about the legality of placing a diplomat’s name on the ECL. The lawyer said that as the diplomat is a military attaché action could be taken against him under the Vienna Convention.
He pleaded with the court to order the travel ban and direct police to do a transparent investigation. He said though police had registered the complaint they were not conducting an investigation.
Idrees had lodged an FIR against the US diplomat at Kohsar police station.
The US diplomat ‘crossed a red signal’. Ateeq and his cousin were coming from the intersection and rammed into the SUV on Margalla road in F8 sector, said Idrees.
Idrees’s petition refers to Article 99 of the Constitution. APP/AFP