Munir Akram, Marijana Mihic & Shame in Manhattan.

2003 The State Department has asked Pakistan to withdraw the diplomatic immunity of its envoy here, Munir Akram, after New York City prosecutors sought to bring misdemeanor assault charges against him as a result of a quarrel with a woman, United States and New York City officials said today. Marjorie Tiven, the city commissioner in charge of United Nations issues, wrote to the United States Mission here on Dec. 26 requesting that the envoy's immunity be removed, according to Edward Skyler, the mayor's spokesman. Mr. Skyler said the Manhattan district attorney's office had advised city officials that it was prepared to prosecute if Mr. Akram's immunity was lifted. Pakistan has not yet informed the United States of any decision. The legal dispute comes at a bad time for the ambassador. On Jan. 1, Pakistan took a seat on the 15-nation Security Council for a two-year term, just when the Council will be weighing whether to authorize war on Iraq. On Dec. 10 at 1:36 a.m., the New York City police were summoned by an emergency 911 call to a residence at 47 East 92nd Street in Manhattan, police officials said. Marijana Mihic, 35, told the 911 operator that a man whom she identified as her husband had smashed her head into a wall and that her arm hurt, according to the police dispatcher's notes of the conversation. She said the man had hit her before. ''Female caller states husband has diplomatic immunity,'' the dispatcher noted. When police officers arrived, Ms. Mihic said that Mr. Akram was her ''boyfriend'' and that after an argument with him she had tried to leave. ''He prevented her from leaving, he grabbed her and she fell,'' said Lt. Brian Burke, a police spokesman. The police officers at the scene reported that Ms. Mihic had a bruise on her head, he said. Mr. Akram, who is 57, was at the residence when the police arrived and identified himself as an ambassador. ''There was nothing really that the officers could do,'' Lt. Burke said. United Nations envoys enjoy immunity from local criminal prosecution. A spokesman for the Pakistani Mission said today that Mr. Akram and his friend had reconciled. ''The ambassador and his friend both strongly believe that there is no basis for any legal action in this matter,'' said Mansoor Suhail, the spokesman. ''And they have both communicated that belief to the concerned authorities.'' Once the police officers arrived at the residence, Ms. Mihic seemed to become less alarmed, and she refused medical attention when an ambulance from the city's Emergency Medical Service went to the scene, city officials said. The district attorney's office advised Ms. Tiven that Mr. Akram could be prosecuted for a misdemeanor charge of third degree assault, a law enforcement official said. She wrote to Patrick F. Kennedy, a senior diplomat at the United States mission here, and the State Department lodged its request with Pakistan on Dec. 28.