FAZAL SHER

ISLAMABAD: The Immigration Wing of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Saturday barred US diplomat Colonel Joseph Emanuel Hall, defence attaché at the US Embassy who is involved in killing a boy in a road accident, from leaving the country.

According to a senior official of FIA, Hall arrived at the airport to leave the country in a special US plane C-130, which landed at Noor Khan Airbase for taking him back. When Hall’s passport was handed over to immigration official for clearance, he was denied to leave the country as his name was put on the blacklist, he added.

He said that later the C-130 plane returned without taking the diplomat. The name of US diplomat was put on blacklist a few days after the road accident to prevent him from leaving the country, he added.

The official said that blacklist is a sort of Exit Control List (ECL); however, the decision to place someone’s name on the ECL is taken by the government. While the decision to place someone’s’ name on the blacklist is taken by the law enforcement agency concerned after taking permission from the court.

He said that once a person is placed on the blacklist, his/her passport and ID card are blocked and hence travelling out of the country is no longer possible. In case of a foreigner, he said that his/her name along with passport number and picture are placed in the Integrated Border Management System (IBMS) to avert his/her exit from the country.

On April 7, Hall while driving his SUV hit a motorcyclist namely Atiq Baig killing him on the spot and injured the pillion passenger. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday last on a petition filed by the deceased’s father ruled that the US diplomat did not have absolute immunity in the country.

The court also granted two weeks to the Ministry of Interior Affairs to decide about placing the name of the accused on the ECL.