A man showing a burned identity card of one the victims who died in the cold storage facility of Karachi airport. PHOTO: EXPRESS/MOHAMMAD AZEEM
More than 32 hours after Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, was attacked, the director general of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Air Marshal (retd) Muhammad Yousuf, finally surfaced on Tuesday with his views on the crisis. But he didn’t have much to say.
His conspicuous absence during the tragedy of the seven men trapped in a cold storage that caved raised many questions.
“We think the terrorists might have killed the men before leaving them in the room,” Yousuf told news channels. “That is why they couldn’t escape.”
The fact that the man responsible for overseeing all aviation activity could only pass on the buck of the responsibility without even waiting to verify the facts reflects the endemic problem CAA suffers from.
Doctors who examined the bodies at JPMC say that none of the bodies bore any bullet marks.
Ironically, it was private social-welfare organisations instead of any government agency that came to rescue people stuck in the building located a show-throw distance away from the CAA Headquarters – where the DG sits.
Express News anchor Shahzeb Khanzada claimed, “The CAA DG was more interested in flight operations rather than the rescue operations.” Khanzada, said, “This can rightly be termed a CAA failure. Airport Security Forces (ASF) acted and responded very well on their part.”
The first piece of heavy machinery that reached the site to start the rescue work was sent by Bahria Town, he maintained.
The aviation regulator has worked under successive DGs since 2010. The office of the CAA DG saw at least five changes in last four years between three officials.
After Air Commodore (retd) Junaid Amin retired in late 2010, the then-ruling PPP installed Nadeem Khan Yousufzai as the CAA head.
Yousufzai’s appointment was controversial as he continued to serve as a senior pilot for PIA while heading the CAA.
Just a few months later in February 2011, Yousufzai went on to become the Managing Director of PIA and was replaced by Air Marshal (retd) Khalid Chaudhry.
The musical chairs continued. A year later, in March 2012, Yousufzai came back at the helm of affairs at CAA. But just seven months later, Chaudhry once again came to steer CAA.
Industry officials were hoping to see some autonomy and change in CAA after the PML-N government moved it from under the Ministry of Defence’s control to a newly created Aviation Division.
But the events, which unfolded during the last two days, suggest that aviation authorities still look towards Islamabad for directions.
Neither Yousuf nor CAA spokesman Abid Qaimkhani were available for comments.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2014.
COMMENTS (11)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
CAA is one of the most corrupt institution in Pakistan..in 2012-2013 a scam was discovered ..more than Rs.1.5 billion in landing and parking fees was pocketed by corrupt official of CAA...and no body has been held for accountability nor revenue was deposited back.
Yes he should be charged for murder,. Thus is the time to test our media and see how much justice this media can bring to our system. DG CAA is really a shameless person. He should be tried for murder android lawyer should plead his case. @Saud Usmani:
@ishrat salim:
you are right. DG was performing protocol duty when this whole episode was unfolding. These people have no exposure to Civil administration and only "visit" as it's boss to spend some time minting money and enjoying luxuries of travelling worldwide at the expense of others.People rising within the organisation to the top positions have their feelings and commitment for an organisation and most importantly they know their job.
This is the time to make those responsible people think twice if FIR is lodged under section 320 PPC ( murder by negligence )....if those affected relatives are unable to do that, members of our civil society can do, if they have any iota of human value left in them...this case is the litmus test for them....let us see.
There is no culture of accountability of people on senior positions, sadly in our society people thrives on lies. Infect in the whole society there is no accountability, only might is right.
The biggest problem in my view is the decline in the values, we have gone to the rock bottom of it. There is no sham in lying or doing any type of corruption. Unless we start asking question and resisting wrong things, we have no hope for survival of our country.
There is no justification for any wrong doing.
DG is clearly lying when he says men were killedprior...the victims phoned threre relatives and notified them that they were hiding..and forensics will prove they wernt shot ..come on ET y not question it...shoddy jouranlism
where is the proof that they were "already" dead? If he can't then charge him with seven murders.
I don't remember any of these so called super human species ( Pak Armed Forces) had ever shown any selfrespect and sense of responsibility by putting there resignation on any of there failures (they are so many), how can they be failed, they are " men at there best", it is the baladi civilians" who are always responsible.
With his attire and explanation on TV, the DG CAA shows no romores on his failure to save the life of those 7 staff. A case under section 320 PPC ( murder by negligence ) should be registered against DG CAA and other responsible.
Will it ever happen in Pakistan, where these white elephants retired will be held responsible?
If the DG has any semblance of self respect, he should resign. Better security could have easily translated to those 30+ individuals being alive today
Enough of these good for nothing air marshals heading the CAA. There is nothing civil in them that they want to head the civil aviation authority.
All should be hanged or put before firing squad.............