Daman-e-Koh accident: Amid tears, Margalla village buries its promising son

Victim’s father urges PM, chief justice to provide justice; claims police did not take diplomat to precinct

ISLAMABAD: As they lowered the body of the young man into his final- who became a victim to errant driving by a foreign diplomat on the streets of the capital — final resting place at a sleepy hamlet up in the Margalla Hills on Sunday, his grieving family demanded only one thing: that justice be done.

“I demand that the driver responsible for my son’s death be punished so that such incidents do not happen again,” Muhammad Idrees, the sexagenarian father of the victim, told The Express Tribune at the funeral.

Idrees’ 22-year-old son Ateeq Baig was riding on a motorbike with his cousin Raheel Ahmed in the capital on Saturday afternoon. As they crossed the Daman-e-Koh intersection on Margalla Road after the turn of the light, a speeding sports utility vehicle (SUV) — driven by US Defence and Air Attaché Col Joseph Emanuel Hall — slammed into them.



The collision sent Baig and Ahmed flying through the air. Baig died of head injuries while his cousin was also injured.

On Sunday morning, Baig was buried in his native Talhar village in the Margalla Hills. The funeral was sombre with most villagers still shocked by the incident.

Waiting tables to make ends meet

Baig hailed from a poor family living on the Margalla Hills. But that did not stop him from his ambition of trying to improve his life and those in his village.

Enrolled in a bachelor’s programme at the Allama Iqbal Open University, the youngster used to travel around 15 kilometres downhill on his motorbike every day, often accompanied by one of his cousins, into the capital. There, he worked part-time waiting at tables at a restaurant in the upscale Sector F-7.

PHOTO: EXPRESS

His elder brother too was in the service industry, working at another restaurant at Peer Sohawa. His father, having retired from the military, worked as a security guard at a school in the Saidpur village.

“I had barely returned home from work when I received a call from my son’s phone. I thought he was calling me for some reason, but the sound on the other end was not him,” Idrees said, even as he greeted mournful neighbours from the village expressing their condolences. “The caller said Ateeq had met with an accident and was being taken to the hospital,”

“When I reached the hospital, I found Raheel, my nephew who was accompanying Ateeq, injured. We started looking for Ateeq, thinking that he too would be injured,” the sexagenarian man said.

“There was a body lying on a stretcher in a corner. When we removed the cover a bit, I saw that it was my son,” he narrated.

After a brief pause, Idrees continued: “I appeal to the prime minister, the chief justice of Pakistan and the chief of the army staff that exemplary punishment is given to him [the diplomat]. We Pakistanis are just like insects and animals for them,” the father lamented with a hint of anger in his voice.

He went on to claim that the police did not even take Hall to the police station. Instead, he claimed that officials let him depart the crime scene in another vehicle.

“If the government cannot provide me with justice, then I will leave it to the Almighty,” he added.

Baig’s other relatives remembered him as a kind-hearted person.

“He was intelligent and kind-hearted,” said Aadil, a cousin of Baig.

“He mostly kept to himself. Sometimes we made fun of him, but his sudden death has left us all in shock,” Aadil cried.

Ahmed is still admitted in the hospital and is receiving treatment for his leg which was fractured in two places.



By the book?

Immediately after the accident, police said that they had briefly detained and questioned Col Hall. But after he produced his diplomatic credentials, officials handed him over to embassy officials and informed the Foreign Office. Officials, though, impounded his car and kept his diplomatic card and driving licence.

“In the instant case, police acted strictly as per law and laid down procedure,” read a statement issued by the police on Sunday.

The statement read that when they approached the man in the vehicle, he introduced himself as a diplomat of the US Embassy and showed the diplomatic ID card issued by Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). Police stated that Col Hall and his vehicle were taken to the Kohsar police station and an FIR about the incident was lodged. Moreover, the statement claimed that Col Hall was also questioned.

After Col Hall’s colleagues from the US embassy arrived and claimed immunity, he was allowed to leave.

“Under Article 29 of Vienna Convention 1961, to which Pakistan is also a signatory, a diplomat can neither be arrested nor detained, the statement said, adding the Col Hall’s identity was telephonically verified from MOFA.

“Fair and impartial investigation is being carried out without fear or favour in the domain of law.”

However, a police source disputed some of the facts in that statement, noting that the diplomat was never taken to the police station and interrogated.

“Kohsar SHO Khalid Awan let the diplomat go from the spot after checking his diplomatic credentials. Neither did the SHO arrange medical examination to check whether the driver was under influence of any drug, nor did he inform his superiors before letting Hall go,” he claimed, adding US embassy officials had reached the spot and they also put up some resistance to the police.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 9^th, 2018.