Stowaway case: Defence ministry to decide inquiry report’s fate

Access to findings being denied, says police official.

LAHORE: The Civil Aviation Authority’s inquiry into the ‘stowaway’ incident at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport that resulted in 13-year-old Qasim Siddique’s death has been completed. However, the findings may not get public anytime soon.

Airport Manager Amir Mehboob told The Express Tribune that the inquiry committee had sent its report to the Ministry of Defence. He said it was up to the ministry now if and when they wanted to make it public. A police official associated with the investigation of the case on condition of anonymity said they were trying to access the inquiry report but had not been successful. He said the Airport Security Force was not cooperating.

An Airport Security Force (ASF) official confirmed that the committee had never been very enthusiastic about cooperating with the police. He said they had only let the police inspect the airport premises after they had ensured that all relevant evidence had been removed.

The committee had been assigned to fix responsibility for the security breach that enabled the boy to enter the prohibited area. The ASF official said that low-ranking officials had been threatened with suspension from duties if they cooperated with the committee. “ASF chief security officer is authorised to suspend subordinates for a four-week period,” he said.

Experts believed that in such a situation the inquiry might not be of any use until the ASF chief security officer had been suspended.

Advocate Sumaira Akhtar Awan, an expert on Service matters, said that to avoid a situation where senior officials could obstruct the course of an inquiry, the committee should suspend them from duties.

Advocate Anjum Jawaid Khan said the security protocols of the Civil Aviation Rules of 1994 dealt with the matter. These, he said, were framed in accordance with Chicago Convention of 1944.

Manager Amir Mehboob admitted that there was a chance the ASF chief security officer may have influenced the findings. However, he said, his suspension from service without there being a proof to backup the allegations against him would have sent “a negative message”. The committee was headed by CAA joint secretary Arshad Farooq. Its other members include Group Captain Mujahid Islam, an expert on air crash investigations, and Air Commodore Gulzar Janjua, a fighter pilot hired by the ASF on contract basis. They were contacted but refused comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2011.