ISLAMABAD - The family of Attique Baig (22), who was killed in a road accident involving a US diplomat in Islamabad last month, has pardoned the killer in the hope of getting compensation from the Pakistani government, The Nation has learnt.
US Military Attaché Col Joseph Emanuel Hall had left Pakistan on Monday last, almost one month after the incident which also sparked a controversy about whether the killer enjoyed diplomatic immunity.
During the course of over one month, the family of the deceased kept protesting and raising voice for justice. They held protest demonstrations against the killing and demanded strict action against the killer under the Pakistani laws. They had also approached the Islamabad High Court to get Col Hall’s name placed on the Exit Control List. The court on May 11 ruled that the US diplomat did not have absolute immunity in the country. The court also granted two-week time to the interior ministry to decide over placing his name on the ECL. Subsequently, the interior ministry put Hall’s name on the ECL.
Pakistani authorities had also barred the US diplomat from leaving the country after a US special plane arrived at the Noor Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi to carry the diplomat out of Pakistan on Saturday evening. However, on Monday, he was allowed to fly out of Pakistan.
In his reaction to the US diplomat’s leaving Pakistan, Muhammad Idrees, father of Attique Baig told The Nation that Islamabad district administration convinced them to pardon the US diplomat. They [Islamabad administration] also assured them of compensation [blood money], he added. “The US diplomat was allowed to leave Pakistan after I submitted pardon statement. He [the US diplomat] left Pakistan on my will… I submitted a statement to pardon the US diplomat,” Idrees said and added the US diplomat would have flown out of Pakistan in both the cases. He said that the family didn’t make any demand in return for the pardon. “We are still in contact with the government officials… we have made no demand rather we were asking the Pakistani authorities to devise an SOP so that no Pakistani suffers in incidents involving the diplomats in the future,” he said. He believed the SOP to deal with such a situation in future has been devised. To a question whether the family has received any blood money so far, Idrees said he does not attach any hope with the US, rather, Pakistani authorities will compensate them.
The officials who spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity said that it was a wise decision on the part of Attique’s family to take blood money as the US diplomat enjoyed immunity.
According to the sources, the issue was resolved through negotiations and the Pakistani authorities had conveyed their willingness to let the US diplomat go. The diplomat was permitted to leave after his name was removed from the ECL. According to the sources, Pakistan allowed the US diplomat’s departure as a conciliatory gesture after it imposed reciprocal movement restrictions on US diplomats in Pakistan, besides withdrawing several special concessions extended to them.
The sources believed that the interior minister used his powers to remove US diplomat’s name from the ECL. In a recent development, the federal cabinet had empowered the interior minister to grant a one-time exemption to place or remove a name on or from the Exit Control List in case of urgency. The federal cabinet, which met under the chair of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on May 3 empowered the federal interior minister for granting a one-time exemption to place or remove a name on or from the ECL in case of urgency, pending approval by a sub-committee and ratification by the cabinet, according to the sources.
When asked, why US diplomat’s name was put on the ECL if he enjoyed diplomatic immunity, an official at the ministry of interior said that the government did so under immense public pressure. “Pakistan did not want any action against the diplomat knowing he enjoyed immunity. It was public pressure that forced the government to put his name on the ECL but it could not sustain pressure from the US side and let him go,” he added.
On the other side, the sources told The Nation that Islamabad police handed over all record related to Colonel Hall’s case to the US officials before his departure. He will be proceeded against in his home country, according to the police sources. “The local police had completed all the legal procedure through the ministry of foreign affairs [pertaining to the immunity being enjoyed by the US diplomat]. Hopefully, now the receiving state will prosecute him [Col Joseph),” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.