An American diplomat involved in a vehicle accident that killed a Pakistani will be tried under US laws, Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Faisal said Thursday, days after the envoy departed from Pakistan in a special flight.
The FO spokesperson said US Defence and Air Attaché Col Joseph Emanuel Hall had diplomatic immunity and he was allowed to leave Pakistan on the assurance that he will be tried in a US court for killing a Pakistani citizen in road accident, reported Radio Pakistan.
Dr Faisal also confirmed that travel restrictions on American diplomats in Pakistan and Pakistani diplomats in US were now in place with both now requiring prior permission to travel beyond 25 miles of where they are stationed.
Pakistani authorities had initially barred Colonel Joseph from leaving the country when the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) forced an American military aircraft flown in for his departure to leave without him.
US-Pakistani relations have deteriorated significantly since the beginning of the year, when Trump abruptly announced in a tweet a cutoff of military aid, which he said treated the United States with “nothing but lies and deceit” for 15 years.