Wednesday, May 30, 2012

International experts to re-investigate Airblue plane crash, Peshawar High Court told

 PESHAWAR: Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi Wednesday informed the Peshawar High Court that the International Civil Aviation Organisation had nominated two-member team of experts to re-investigate the Airblue plane crash.

On January 19, a division bench headed by the PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan had rejected the flawed Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) investigation about the crash and directed the federal government to constitute a new board of inquiry under domestic and international laws for revisiting the probe through international experts.

 The court was hearing the writ petition filed by former Member National Assembly, Marvi Memon and some victim families seeking an independent inquiry into the crash and compensation under the international laws.

 The Defence Secretary told a division bench comprising the chief justice and Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk that the federal government in line with the high court directives requested the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for sending its experts to reinvestigate the Airblue plane crash in Margalla Hills that left all 152 people on board dead on July 28, 2010.

 She said the experts would arrive on June 3 and complete investigations by June 10. She assured the court that the team would be free and the government would facilitate the experts to conduct the inquiry independently.

 The bench withdrew contempt of court notices issued to the Defence Secretary and DG CAA Nadeem Yousafzai after they tendered unconditional apology and assured the court that the verdict about the Airblue plane crash would be fully implemented.

 The bench had issued contempt notices to top officials for employing delaying tactics and deputing a low-ranking officer for communication with the ICAO for hiring its experts causing two months delay. The court had stated that the shocking crash of the Bhoja Air plane could have been averted had the federal government implemented the directives of the high court issued after the incident involving the Airblue aircraft.

 The chief justice asked the Defence Secretary to do something for the national airline, PIA. He asked Nargis Sethi to constitute a vigilance committee to check the affairs of CAA and PIA to improve their performance and save the PIA.

http://www.thenews.com.pk

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