Site of the Margalla Towers that collapsed during the 2005 earthquake. PHOTO: FILE
He was wanted over the collapse of Margalla Towers in 2005 that killed 78 people during a massive earthquake.
Shaikh Abdou Hafeez, 71, was arrested on Sunday on the resort island of Zakynthos under an international warrant and is due to appear before prosecutors on Wednesday, a local police source said.
He is accused of homicide, destruction of public assets and corruption among other allegations, according to a statement from Greek police.
According to the warrant, he was the architect of the Margalla Towers residential complex in Islamabad which collapsed during the October 2005 quake, killing 78 people and injuring 84.
The earthquake itself, which had a magnitude of 7.6, killed about 50,000 people in Pakistan.
Greek prosecutors are expected on Wednesday to order Hafeez be held in custody before going before a Greek court which could then rule on his extradition.
COMMENTS (34)
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A sad state of affairs is that almost 8 years have passed since the tragic incident and the law enforcement agencies are still in the process of hunting down people responsible. Was anybody held responsible for the bridge that collapsed in Karachi, the ones which were recently collapsed on the Lahore Ring Road. Assuming that CDA had approved the maps one can understand that sub-standard construction on part of materials and skill labor could have contributed to the buildings structural strength. Why doesn't the Government as a law create a centralized Building Control department which is responsible for providing a NOC to each and every Residential and Commercial building which is completed with respect to quality.
We as a nation have failed to provide the common man the basic principle rights of Justice, Health, Education and Shelter. Our forefathers have failed and we could blame them for this, but I am sure the generations which come after us will surely blame us for the Pakistan we are creating and will leave for them.
Pakistan Zindabad.
why the owner the bhoja air was not arrested?
@naeem khan Manhattan,Ks: The Italian sailors were sent to India by Italy once India committed that even if convicted, there would be no death sentence. Pakistan could do the same.
Nice work, those responsible should be held accountable.
Interesting to note is that, there were two towers and only one of them collapsed, although both were designed in the same manner. So the question now arises, about the builder and the contractor, of course the architect and structural engineers are also responsible since they approve the construction on site.
WOW, Arrested that was really Fast!!
Arrest the 'thekedaars' which foresaw the quality of building materials, not the architect who designed it.
Dr. Shaikh also designed the adjacent high rise Al-Mustafa Towers, which withstood the same earthquake. In fact after the earthquake two different engineering consultant firms of high reute were commissioned to look into the design of Margalla Towers. Both firms, after thorough investigation, cleared the design prepared by Dr. Hafeez Shaikh.
Dr. Shaikh Abdul Hafiz was, and is, a structural engineer with a PhD in Civil Engineering from the United Kingdom. His own firm designed the building, so there is no need to assume that he wilfully made a poor design to endanger persons and thus risk his professional reputation and bring danger to the occupants of the Margalla Towers which collapsed during the 2006 earthquake. That earthquake, far exceeded in intensity the intensity of earthquakes predicted by most geological organizations for the region in which Islamabad is situated. In fact, this earthquake led to a revision of structural building codes, not only by CDA in Islamabad, but also by municipal building authorities in other cities within the seismic region such as Peshawar, Abbottabad, Muzaffarabad, Murree, etc. Along with the unfortunate residents of the Margalla Towers who died in the building's collapse, around 60,000 other persons lost their lives in buildings which were designed by other individuals, and collapsed in the Northern Areas of Pakistan with the most damage ocurring around the epicentre of the earthquake. If Dr. Shaikh Abdul Hafiz needs to be made a scapegoat by assigning blame to an individual for something which was beyond his control to anticipate and design for, then by the same twisted reasoning and sense of misplaced justice the hundreds (if not thousands) of other individuals, officers of municipal corporations, engineers and draftsmen who designed all the other buildings which collapsed killing those 60,000 people should be hounded and punished also. It would be far better, both in terms of serving justice and in fairness to the engineering profession, to not charge Dr. Shaikh Abdul Hafiz for causing wilful collapse and negligence in the design of the Margalla Towers which he would not have done in any case, but to move on and try to determine and obtain engineering lessons from the collapse of this and other buildings. It would be a sad state of affairs indeed, and an inappropriate gesture to the deceased persons who lost their lives in the Margalla Towers' collapse, if an innocent and elderly person which Dr. Shaikh Abdul Hafiz happens to be, is made a scapegoat by the present Goverment of Pakistan to relieve and assuage the rage of families whose members died in the collapse of the Margalla Towers.
The architect is arrested for collapse of just one building, but when a country lost half its land, no arrests, no trails. That is the beauty of Pakistan.
An architect might be part of the team, that brought this destruction but not the sole responsible. Any highrise building require a licenced structural engineer to design and supervise the construction, while an Architect remains reponsible for the design and finsihes, and of course CDA approves it. I am eager to know who is the Structural Engineer ?
No other person but a qualified architect knows if a building can withstand a tremor, a brilliant architect may also tell the magnitude of earthquake the structure will withstand. Margalla Towers had design fault, therefore it fell so quickly, whereas nearby buildings did not. @Asif Butt:
The builder of Margalls Towers which was collapsed during an earthquake in 2005 is entirely responsible for the deaths and destruction of the building and no one else.
The Builders Mafia in Pakistan is very strong and they give illegal gratification to all officials of government departments from where the builders get the buildings plans approved on papers, during the process of construction any building until obtaining building completion plans.
Though the builders spend vications with their family members in developed countries, but it is unfortunate that after visiting so many places and buildings they even don't learn from the builders in foreign countries as how to contruct and develop high rise residential and commercial buildings according to international standards.
The Builders Mafia in Pakistan in only interested in making the buyers of the individual units fool and sell the residential and commercial units on exorbitant prices, while the lowest quality of material is used in constructing buildings.
The builders should be severly punished and their entire properties whether the properties are in their personal names or in the name oh is spouces or children should be sold through public auction and the money should be distributed among the legal heirs of all those people who died due to collapse of Margalla Towers.
The Architects have nothing to do with the collapse of the building, as whatever the builder would have instructed to the architect, he or she would have designed the building according to the wishes of the builders, as architects have no say in front of the builders.
The actual criminals are the builders and not the architects.
@Asif Butt: Agreed but who is denying CDA's responsibility? I am not. About how to go about cleaning this mess? I really have no answers.
By the way, when you write "Can any law or scientific logic prove that a particular destruction of a building from an earthquake was exactly the result of poor design ?" Yes, huge sky scrappers in various countries are subject to strict earthquake tolerances. Earthquake tolerance in construction engineering is pretty basic and is certainly not rocket science anymore.
@Asif Butt: Yes an architect is responsible if he did not follow the safety rules based on regional datas of at least 50 years on seismic activities.....
A high rise tower must be built on deep piles foundation constructed 20-50 meters underground (depending on the loads) with a factor of safety to absorb seismic waves.
He will not be extradited because Pakistan has death penalty in their laws while the EU does not believe in capital punishment. He may be sent to England and live happily ever after like the rest of the elite of Pakistanis do. Good luck.
8 years too late...
@Fudge:
This is our national dilemma as well as national symptom.
The ONE MAN theory.
We always look out for ONE LEADER to pull us out of problems , rather than a successful system/government mechanics.
We are looking for one man responsible rather than having the will power to blame the whole network which is related to this incidence.
What will the prosecution of 1 man or a few men do ? Will it prevent such things from happening ? They are happening even now at this very moment. Corrupt deals , corrupt constructions , corrupt quality control etc etc.
It is not the mistake which is the problem , it is the corrupt system and all of us who have helped make it strong and un-controlable.
I think we need to start by correcting our own selves , from nepotism , from giving bribes , from promoting class sub-divisions , from helping spread social and religious discrimination etc etc.
@Asif Butt: Wasn't it the only major apartment to collapse in Islamabad? If so, those responsible for the shoddy work must be made accountable.
Congratulations to PML N for rounding up fugitives! A lot more work to do!
So you had an Architect,an Structural engineer, a geo-tecthnical firm who must have done piling, a contractor and off course CDA. Why only blame one person From what I understand it was quality of construction which played major part in collapse so CDA is to be blamed
CDA, government bodies involved in approving the plan, contractor who built it, the owner who may have used shortcuts and substandard material should all be held liable.
how come the architect is at fault? if anyone, it should be the chief structural engineer, the construction manager, the resident engineer and the project management. They are the ones who control the design and construction of structures. An architect only decides how a building should look, not how it should behave under dead, live, wind and seismic loads.
Some connections with P PP. no more in power got arrested.
I think all designs need to be approved by some other authority as well such as Pakistan Engineering Council.
Yes, it can be ascertained from the design whether it was made to follow standards or not. In a collapse of this scale the architect has a key responsibility of ensuring public safety because he is the expert.
Advanced architectural degree requires little (if any) math or engineering background - dig deep enough and you will find an engineering firm that signed off on the structural integrity of the building.
This is just like the bhoja air crash case. Plane not fit to fly yet CAA approves the license. However Guilty only the management.
now now no need to get all jazbati mr. asif.. atleasy find out the rest of the story
@Asif Butt: Don't doctors ever make mistakes? deliberately or otherwise? CDA is equally responsible but that does not mean this guy is innocent either!
result of madrassa education.
Didn't CDA approved the design? They are equally liable and culpable to the murders.
Its like hunting down and arresting a doctor after a patient dies.
Is any architect capable of guaranteeing prevention from earthquake disaster ?
Can any law or scientific logic prove that a particular destruction of a building from an earthquake was exactly the result of poor design ?
IF so , then the actual people guilty are the real estate agents/marketing company which sold the apartments/offices to their customers. And all the rest who earned anything in the process.