ISLAMABAD: US diplomat Col. Joseph Emanuel Hall, who was initially barred from leaving Pakistan after his involvement in a fatal traffic collision, left the country on Monday evening, a US Embassy official told Arab News.
“We can confirm that the American diplomat who was involved in a tragic accident on April 7 in Islamabad has departed Pakistan,” US Embassy spokesperson Richard Snelsire said.
Hall, a US Defense and Air Attache, had violated two traffic light offenses on the afternoon of April 7, ramming two motorcyclists with his white armored SUV in Islamabad.
Motorcyclist, Ateeq Baig, was killed and his pillion rider, Raheel Ahmed, sustained serious injuries, according to police officials who impounded his vehicle. Hall could not be arrested due to his diplomatic status.
There were no details on how the matter was eventually resolved, but the incident has strained ties between the US and Pakistan.
An attempt to bring the diplomat home over the weekend failed. According to military sources, the US had sent a C-130 aircraft from Bagram, Afghanistan to take the colonel home.
“Eight members from the US Embassy, including officials from the US air force, came to the [Nur Khan] Airbase with US Defense and Air Attache Col. Joseph Emanuel Hall’s passport and luggage but after [verifying his travel document], the FIA [Federal Investigation Agency] informed the US officials that Col. Hall was on the block list and, hence, barred him from leaving the country,” they told Arab News.
A court ruling had earlier declared that Hall did not enjoy “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution in the traffic violation and fatal accident, ordering the authorities to decide in two weeks whether his name could be placed on the exit control list (ECL).
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, which was endorsed by Pakistan under the 1972 Diplomatic and Consular Privileges Act, ensures that serving diplomats are not subject to lawsuits and prosecution under the legal framework of the host country. Pakistan is a signatory to the Vienna Convention.
Dr. Mohammad Faisal, a spokesman for the Foreign Office, had also pointed out that under the articles dealing with diplomatic immunity in the Vienna Convention, the possibility of holding Hall in Pakistan for criminal proceedings was unlikely.
Hall’s diplomatic status card, issued by the Foreign Office, is due to expire on May 31.
US diplomat involved in fatal collision leaves Pakistan
US diplomat involved in fatal collision leaves Pakistan
- “We can confirm that the American diplomat who was involved in a tragic accident on April 7 in Islamabad has departed Pakistan,” US Embassy spokesperson Richard Snelsire said
- Col. Joseph Emanuel Hall had killed a young Pakistani in a road accident after he jumped a red light while driving in Islamabad last month
Russia and Ukraine trade attacks as US and European officials prepare for peace talks
Moscow pounded Ukrainian power infrastructure with drone and missile strikes on Saturday and Kyiv launched a deadly strike of its own on southwestern Russia, a day before talks involving senior European and US officials aimed at ending the war were set to resume.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian, US and European officials will hold a series of meetings in Berlin in the coming days, adding that he will personally meet with US President Donald Trump’s envoys.
“Most importantly, I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace — a political agreement to end the war,” Zelensky said in an address to the nation late Saturday.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are traveling to Berlin for the talks, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
American officials have tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including which combatant will get control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.
“The chance is considerable at this moment, and it matters for our every city, for our every Ukrainian community,” Zelensky said. “We are working to ensure that peace for Ukraine is dignified, and to secure a guarantee — a guarantee, above all — that Russia will not return to Ukraine for a third invasion.”
As diplomats push for peace, the war grinds on.
Russia attacked five Ukrainian regions overnight, targeting the country’s energy and port infrastructure. Zelensky said the attacks involved more than 450 drones and 30 missiles. And with temperatures hovering around freezing, Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said more than a million people were without electricity.
An attack on Odesa caused grain silos to catch fire at the coastal city’s port, Ukrainian deputy prime minister and reconstruction minister Oleksiy Kuleba said. Two people were wounded in attacks on the wider Odesa region, according to regional head Oleh Kiper.
Kyiv and its allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.
The drone attack in Russia’s Saratov region damaged a residential building and killed two people, said the regional governor, Roman Busargin, who didn’t offer further details. Busragin said the attack also shattered windows at a kindergarten and clinic. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 41 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight.
On the front lines, Ukrainian forces said Saturday that the northern part of Pokrovsk was under Ukrainian control, despite Russia’s claims this month that it had taken full control of the critical city. The Associated Press was not able to independently verify the claims.
The latest attacks came after Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov reaffirmed Friday that Moscow will give its blessing to a ceasefire only after Ukraine’s forces have withdrawn from parts of the Donetsk region that they still control.
Ukraine has consistently refused to cede the remaining part of the region to Russia.
Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard troops would stay in parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas even if they become a demilitarized zone under a prospective peace plan — a demand likely to be rejected by Ukraine as US-led negotiations drag on.
Ushakov warned that a search for compromise could take a long time, noting that the US proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
“We don’t know what changes they are making, but clearly they aren’t for the better,” Ushakov said, adding: “We will strongly insist on our considerations.”
In other developments, about 480 people were evacuated Saturday from a train traveling between the Polish city of Przemysl and Kyiv after police received a call concerning a threat on the train, Karolina Kowalik, a spokesperson for the Przemysl police, told The Associated Press. Nobody was hurt and she didn’t elaborate on the threat.
Polish authorities are on high alert since multiple attempts to disrupt trains on the line linking Warsaw to the Ukrainian border, including the use of explosives in November, with Polish authorities saying they have evidence Russia was behind it.
