- Chartered plane came to pick up military attaché, but returned to Qatar without him
ISLAMABAD: US military attaché Col. Joseph Emanuel Hall “is on a block list,” so “there’s no question about him leaving” Pakistan, a senior Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) official told Arab News.
On April 7, Hall ran a red light and his vehicle hit a motorcycle in Islamabad, killing Ateeq Baig, 22, and injuring another person.
A chartered plane arrived on Saturday at Nur Khan Airbase Chaklala, in Rawalpindi to fly Hall out of Pakistan, and “FIA officials were already present when the chartered plane arrived from Qatar,” said the agency’s Islamabad director, Shakeel Durrani. “At the request of Islamabad police, the diplomat was barred from flying out of the country.”
Durrani said Hall never showed up, adding: “A US Embassy official came to the air base with the colonel’s travel documents. Once we ran the documents through our system and confirmed his name was on the provisional list, we informed the official that Hall wasn’t allowed to leave the country.”
The provisional list is usually provided by the Supreme Court for which officials have authority given to them by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to ban individuals with cases in the courts from leaving the country.
Durrani said Hall knew he would not be allowed to fly, which is why someone else was sent in his stead to confirm his status. The Islamabad High Court on Friday ruled that Hall does not have absolutely immunity.