MUZAFFARABAD: Mirpur police on Tuesday said they would bring a teenage British national of Kashmiri origin to justice who reportedly fled Pakistan after killing three persons by his reckless driving.

At about 8:30pm on Thursday, a recklessly driving double cabin pickup (AVS-444) with 19-year-old dual nationality holder Ismail Arshad at the wheel, who was accompanied by his uncle Malik Sajid, had first collided on Mirpur bypass with two motorbikes coming from the opposite direction. It had then hit a parked car and crushed its owner and his friend sitting on a protection wall along the road, before finally falling into a ditch.

The crash left Kalimullah and his pillion rider Mohammad Waiz dead on the spot and Farmanullah, his pillion rider Shaukatullah, car owner Zainul Hassan and his colleague Malik Azhar critically injured.

Mr Azhar succumbed to his wounds in Divisional Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Mirpur after a few hours while doctors had to amputate a leg of Farmanullah to save his life following which he was referred to Pims in Islamabad. Shaukatullah was still being treated in the DHQ Hospital Mirpur and was out of danger.

SSP Mirpur Raja Irfan Saleem told Dawn that while people who gathered at the accident site were busy removing the injured to hospital, Mr Sajid, who had also sustained injuries, called Ismail’s brother Haider who arrived on a bike and instantly removed both of them from the scene.

An FIR was registered at the City police station, wherein Mr Ismail and his uncle Mr Sajid were booked.

Since the act of the suspects had threatened the life of general public, section 6 of Anti-Terrorist Act was also added in the FIR afterwards, the SSP said.

He said the police took Mr Sajid into custody from the DHQ hospital where he was brought by his family for treatment, but by that time the principal accused (Ismail) along with his parents and two siblings left Mirpur for Islamabad, from where they flew out of Pakistan past midnight.

The SSP said police were gathering information about the current location of Mr Ismail, as there were unconfirmed reports that he had been denied entry by the UK immigration officials.

“We are in contact with the National Crime Agency of Pakistan for his extradition and soon he will be brought to justice,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2022