ISLAMABAD:
A day after the government ordered a judicial inquiry into the tragic Bhoja Air crash, the opposition heaped scorn at the premier for the ‘controversial makeup’ of the commission for this purpose.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, said on Sunday that the government formed the judicial commission without the consent of the apex court.
“The so-called commission cannot be termed a ‘judicial’ commission, which has been set up to cover up facts,” he told a news conference in Islamabad.
A judicial commission is one which includes serving judges and is set up either in consultation with a high court chief justice or the chief justice of Pakistan, Khan said.
The judges, who took oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, faced contempt charges themselves and did not qualify to be called judges, he added.
The commission named by the government comprises Justice (retd) Syed Zahid Hussain and Justice (retd) Nasim Sikandar and a police official to be appointed by the interior ministry.
Accusing President Asif Ali Zardari of favouring the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Chaudhry Nisar said that his party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, would not accept false findings. “We will challenge this cover-up even if we have to go to the courts.”
Chaudhry Nisar also accused one of the commission’s members of being a ‘blue-eyed’ official of President Zardari.
“Can the prime minister not help appointing controversial persons?” questioned Chaudhry Nisar. “It is a planned move as the commission will do whatever is desired by the government,” he said.
He also accused the government of concealing facts in several cases, including the May 2 Abbottabad raid, Mehran base attack, Memogate scandal and the ongoing Ephedrine quota case against the premier’s son.
“The government has once again turned a national tragedy into a controversy, but we will question this in the National Assembly,” Khan said.
Referring to the 2010 Airblue tragedy, he said: “The people still don’t know the reasons for the crash: Who is responsible? How can such accidents be avoided in the future? We want to know the facts, whosoever is responsible.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 23rd, 2012.
COMMENTS (23)
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Ch.nisar demand fair inquiry on bhoja air line but not on air blue.why?because owner of air blue is MNA of N'league shahid khaqan abbasi. All these parties in current assemblies are equal to ruin the pakistan
@Hasan:
which problems are being removed. Air blue was owend my one of their party members. Do you see the investigation findings....
@Ameen: Thanks and I agree with you.
To my knowledge the major pain which Ch Nisar is having of nomination of Mr Wasim Kausar, a police official and former IG Motorways. He can not criticize this man openly as such taking the cover of PCO judges. Police official belongs to a miniority group. This is also funny that things are being a said about a commission which jsut has been formed. If at all opposition wants some action should demand against previous commission which did not fulfill obligations honeslty. Havea patience Mr Nisar Ch, the respected oppostion spokesperson.
PML-N in general and Ch Nisar in particular times and again forget that they as main opposition party are the government-in-waiting and not running the government. They can not dictate on day to day admin matters. That's the way worlds' democracies work. But are we one of those?
This is all balderdash.
In the recent report of the Air India Express crash in Manglore, one of the recommendations is to set up an INDEPENDENT accident investigation body. That is what we need here and that is what they have in other civilized countries (the US NTSB, the UK AAIB and the French BEA, for example).
Does it take rocket science to figure this out?
Ch Nisar u r just politicizing the matter
@Ali Tipu. Air blue gave due compensations to victim families and the case is still being heard in court. But if a plane instead of landing goes to hit a mountain in bad weather, that may have been caused by bad weather itself. The case of this crash is different, it caught fire in air which could be due to a mechanical or maintenance fault.
Billo Bhaya I totally agree with you that Airblue crash case and CAA findings were never challenged by PMLN .....coz the airblue is a entity of PMLN group & the mother of all evil is PMLNs Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (ex CEO of PIA from punjab) when he was in-charge of PIA during nawaz sherif tenure he send home all the top brass of PIA, all of them were experienced Karachiites. Shahid is responsible for scrapping our localy made internationally award winning reservation software, he outsourced all the reservation work to a Atlanta based company which is owned by his friend & costing us too much.He did all that just to weaken PIA & to get a good share of business for his own airline 'airblue'
PML(N) should stop being negative on every step that government takes.
PML N has its biggest challenge,remove Nisar as he is a liability He finds everything the govt does something he cannt accept The solution is simple ,JOIN PPP or win next election.What a shame to refer to PCO in this case while the biggest PCO is now CJ
I wish they would have been as active, as sympathetic and as demanding for the open investigations of the Air Blue crash that happened in 2010. But no they weren't and they would never be either. Reason being Air blue belongs to one of their comrades Khaaqan Abbasi and PML(N) being a bunch of hypocrites, liars and opportunists would never utter a word regarding that crash but would rather hide behind another PCO judge Iftikar Chaudry to score political points.
Victims families should never let this happen. Zardari govt is eyeing on the insurance money. Protes till your last breath but never let this vultures take the money of your relatives who lost their innocent lives.
@Qaiser K. Ahmed: In democratic countries the role of the Opposition is to point out problems if any in governance of the parties that are in power and are the decision makers of the country and that is what exactly PMLN is doing. But the people like you with inherit hatred will bash PMLN no matter what they do. PMLN is the only party who demanded that defense budget be produced in Parliament like in other democratic countries and they are absolutely right that former commissions yield no results what so ever and this commission with political inclination will do no good at all and ultimately people of Paklistan will forget this tragedy like they did in the past but there will be no catharsis in the end..
PMLN is using Bhoja Air crash victims as bait to extract their pound of flesh from the PPP on the separate issue of local and national elections. PMLN just like the PPP can never be trusted to tell the truth. Airblue crash case and CAA findings were never challenged by PMLN until now. It was the Peshawar High Court that had not accepted the findings and the compensation payable to the victims families. The day PPP and PMLN are defeated in the polls, will be the day of national salvage.
Nisar Bhai can you come out of the debating mode and show some practical steps for the betterment of poor people. We find our assemblies nothing more than debating floor. The expenses on assemblies are not worth the output.
PML-n is just trying to use this tragedy to further their their own position.
"The judges, who took oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, faced contempt charges themselves and did not qualify to be called judges, he added."
What Hippocrates as they have a love affair with PCO Iftikhar Chaudhry.
PMLN is getting more responsible with the passage of time and we must appreciate it. There are problems but they are improving day by day.
Excellent point by PMLN!