US Embassy struck ‘Diyat’ deal with family of youth killed in accident

ISLAMABAD: The family of man killed by US diplomat has reached an agreement with the US Embassy on blood money, sources told Daily Jang.

Under the deal, the embassy will pay Diyat amount to the victim family and in return they will not pursue the case in court, according to the report.

The details of the agreement, which was reached many days ago before the diplomat was allowed to leave on Monday under the Vienna Convention, are kept secret. The report said that the amount and when it will be paid is unknown.

The US Military Attaché, Col Joseph Emanuel Hall, involved in the killing of a Pakistani youth in a road accident, left for the United States, diplomatic sources confirmed to the Geo News.

The official sources said Pakistan accepted the US viewpoint that Col Joseph Emanuel Hall has complete diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Convention.

On April 7, Col Joseph jumped a red light and rammed into a motorcycle killing a Pakistani civilian. He was let go by the police officials in Islamabad after the accident as the law — Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961 — provides the diplomat with immunity from criminal prosecution.

According to sources, the local police has handed over all the record related to Colonel Hall to the US officials. Hall is a certified envoy who enjoys diplomatic immunity, the sources added. Pakistan's criminal, civil, and administrative laws do not apply to the US envoy. The US government had refused to strip Joseph of the diplomatic immunity, said the sources.

Earlier on Saturday, a United States Air Force C-130 returned from the Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi, without the diplomat as the Interior Ministry refused to issue him a No Objection Certificate (NOC), sources had informed the Geo News.

The Islamabad High Court on May 11, on a petition filed by the deceased's father, ruled that the US diplomat does not have absolute immunity in the country. The court had also granted two weeks to the Ministry of Interior to decide on placing his name on the Exit Control List (ECL).