ISLAMABAD – The Islamabad High Court stirred concerns in the diplomatic corridors as it remarked that being a diplomat did not give American embassy staffer Colonel Joseph Emanuel ‘licence to kill our people’.
During the hearing of the case related to the killing of Pakistani citizen in Islamabad after an accident with Emanuel’s car, Justice Aamer Farooq remarked that an alcohol test is the first thing to do after any hit-and-run case, but the police failed to follow procedure probably since they “trembled seeing a foreigner”.
The judge went hard on the police for not dealing the case on merit, observing that when a Pakistani is involved in an accident, the police gets inside the vehicle to smell alcohol.
During the hearing, Kohsar SHO Khalid Awan submitted the diplomat’s statement in court, after which the judge observed that the statement was not recorded in English.
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To another query, the SHO responded that the statement was recorded while the diplomat was inside his vehicle at the police station.
The honourable judge then observed that the police itself damaged the case by not conducting an alcohol test initially.
The police official informed the court that he was called by the Foreign Office (FO) to let the diplomat off the hook. He added that the Foreign Office has been forwarded details of the case to assist police according to the Vienna Convention.
The judge also observed that diplomatic immunity should be sought, but hastened to add that going through the wheels of justice was also necessary.
Regarding the placement of the diplomat’s name on ECL, the court ruled that the committee formed over the issue should decide the matter in five days.
