Diplomatic immunity and road safety

Responsibility for the first incident is clear and unequivocal, for second investigation yet to be released

Nobody can pretend that driving on the roads of Pakistan is anything other than a fraught experience. Drivers are careless and inattentive; many have never had a driving lesson in their lives, cars are poorly maintained and insurance against personal injury a rarity. There are a tiny number of foreigners driving on Pakistan roads, mostly diplomats and a sprinkling of workers with international NGOs. Outside Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi foreign drivers are virtually non-existent and reports of them being involved in accidents exceedingly rare. It is thus with concern that we note reports of two incidents, both in Islamabad in the last month, in which American drivers based at the US Embassy in the capital have been involved in accidents that resulted in injury and loss of life.

In the first incident a diplomat was caught on camera running a red light and hitting a motorcycle — which had right of way. One of the riders is seen to be thrown in the air. One of the riders died of his injuries at the scene and the other is recovering. The driver has claimed diplomatic immunity as is his right. The family of the dead man are seeking justice and rightly so. The more recent incident happened on the night of 29^th April when a US Embassy car traveling on Constitution Avenue hit a motorcycle near the Pakistan Secretariat at around 9.40pm. One of the riders suffered head injuries the other minor cuts and bruises.

Responsibility for the first incident is clear and unequivocal, for the second results of an investigation have yet to be released. In both cases the drivers immediately claimed diplomatic immunity. With one man dead and three injured in the space of a month, all in the capital and an American driver involved in both cases questions arise, not least of diplomatic immunity. There are reports that in the first case the driver had consumed alcohol; no similar reports as yet in the second. The recent cases are ‘RTAs’ — Road Traffic Accidents. Accidents happen everywhere every day and we see no reason why guilty parties should walk free. Over to you, Uncle Sam.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2018.

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