Yet another US diplomat involved in accident in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The police in Pakistan have charged a United States Embassy security officer with seeking to obstruct an investigation into a car accident involving an embassy vehicle, police officials said on Monday, adding to diplomatic tensions days after an American military attache was barred from leaving the country over a separate collision.
The arrest was made after an American diplomat’s Toyota hit and injured two people on a motorcycle in Islamabad on Sunday evening, the police said. The injured people were hospitalised, and the diplomat, second secretary Chad Rex Ausburn, was briefly detained before being released after the foreign ministry confirmed his diplomatic credentials.

But the police said that Taimur Iqbal Pirzada, a security adviser for the US Embassy, sought to obstruct an investigation of the accident and to stop officers from taking the diplomat and his vehicle to a police station. Pirzada was charged with obstruction and with using assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from carrying out duties. He was released on bail on Monday after appearing in court.

The Islamabad police also registered a case of reckless driving against the motorcycle driver on Monday. A spokesman for the American Embassy in Islamabad was not available for comment.

The accident over the weekend follows an episode this month that drew attention on social media as well as street protests. A vehicle driven by Colonel Joseph Emanuel Hall, defence and air attache of the US Embassy, allegedly crushed to death a motorcyclist in Islamabad on April 7.