Media watch: Rumors and conspiracies

Third person in crashed plane's cockpit, conflicting Sialkot reports and Multi-millionaire's visit to flood hit...

Media watch is a daily round-up of key articles featured on news websites, hand-picked by The Express Tribune web staff.

‘Airblue cockpit had a third person’

A team investigating the crash of the ill-fated Airblue jetliner on July 28 in Islamabad has detected the possible presence of a third person in the cockpit. Under normal circumstances, a cockpit is not supposed to have anyone other than the pilot and the co-pilot. Imran Ali Teepu (dawn.com)

‘Hanged boys had killed and robbed the same day’

A leading civilian intelligence agency of the country has concluded that the two Sialkot brothers, brutally killed by the mob recently, were allegedly road robbers, who killed a 22-year old young man and injured a few others on the fateful day that led to their killing by the infuriated locals after the brothers were caught red-handed. Ansar Abbasi (thenews.com.pk)

Probe in Sialkot killings points finger at PML-N govt

Sources in the joint investigation team (JIT) that is probing the incident disclosed that almost every police official involved directly or indirectly in the incident “has no fear of high-ups due to their strong links” with PML-N parliamentarians. Adnan Lodhi (dailytimes.com.pk)

Punjab smells a rat in distribution of funds: Shahbaz asks Prime Minister to convene CCI meeting

Shahbaz said the decisions taken at the NDMA meeting held on August 19 were not being implemented and it had been unanimously decided that the victims would be immediately extended Rs 20,000 each in cash to enable them to rebuilt their homes and purchase essential items. Of this amount, the provinces were to give Rs 10,000 for each family while the federal government was to match the grant, he said, adding that the modalities for this purpose were to be finalised in a meeting of finance managers on August 20, but Federal Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh left for Washington, hence no step taken in this regard. Muhammad Saleem (brecorder.com)

James Caan: the Dragon humbled by Pakistan floods disaster

“As we wove in and out of the tops of trees that barely broke the surface of the water,” he says, “I saw people’s belongings floating to the top – kitchen utensils, broken furniture and then the odd roof top here and there. In Sindh, which was experiencing the full force of the floods, aid wasn’t even an issue. There was no one to give it to. People had either escaped or they had died.” (telegraph.co.uk)