Lawyers demand ‘transparent’ crash probe

Call for setting up independent commission for inquiry under supervision of apex court judge

KARACHI: Supreme Court (SC) lawyers Vakeel Qadir Khan Mando Khel and Rizwan Khanzada submitted on Tuesday an application at Model Colony police station, seeking the registration of an FIR in connection with the plane crash that took place on Friday.

They have stated in the petition that Pakistan International Airlines chairperson (Rtd) Air Marshal Arshad Malik, Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan and ground engineers at Allama Iqbal Airport should be suspended and booked for negligence.

The application moves the relevant authorities to carry out a transparent inquiry against them.

Khanzada and Khel have claimed that according to a video and other details that have surfaced in connection with the crash, an engine of the ill-fated PIA aircraft PK-8303 was out of order but the plane was still allowed to fly.

Separately, advocates Nadeem Shaikh and Asim Iqbal have appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of the PIA plane crash and form a commission for the judicial inquiry of the issue under the supervision of a SC judge. They have demanded that this commission should comprise the heads of PIA, the Federal Investigation Agency, Civil Aviation Authority and Pakistan Airline Pilots' Association. Some of the suggested areas of investigation include the last date of examination of the aircraft, its maintenance record, officials responsible for the issuance of the clearance certificate, condition of the aircraft upon arrival from China and the declaration of the distress call as 'light one.'

The lawyers have further inquired as to why the plane was not allowed to land after the captain's first distress call stated that both engines of the aircraft had caught fire and ceased after the plane arrived in Karachi.

Shaikh and Iqbal have also suggested that the survivors of the crash, too, be made part of the investigation and their statements should be recorded in the presence of two witnesses. It should also be inquired if PIA's engineering branch in Lahore is following international standards, they added.

The two advocates have also demanded deceased pilot Captain Sajjad Gul's salary, as well as the salaries of the rest of the flight crew, not be suspended and their families be given Rs10 million as compensation. Furthermore, they asserted that Gul be awarded a Sitar-e-Jurat (the star of courage) for his professionalism and courage. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2020.