By By Usman Manzoor
The crash was reported by the western and Afghan media on November 11, 2005, but neither the makers of the plane (IL-76 Cargo aircraft operated by M/s Royal Airlines Pakistan using call sign RPK-1102) ever confirmed the crash nor does any renowned international air crash database have any record of such an accident on that particular day. If, on the one hand, the Russians denied that any such crash took place, the Americans, on the other hand, erased all the evidences that could have led to the facts about the crash.
The father of Captain Mehdi Hasnain Ali, talking to The News, said that his son was a pilot but the company operating the cargo plane, Royal Airlines Pakistan, had showed him as flight manager, an administrative post, just to avoid the insurance liability. He said the company had not bothered to pay the insurance so far.
When he insisted on getting the appointment letter of his son, the company gave him a fake appointment letter (copy available), showing Mehdi Hasnain as flight manager and his pay 3,000 dirham.
He said according to the insurance documents, each crew member had insurance worth $10 million as crew liability but the company never bothered to visit the crash site and pay the insurance to the aggrieved family.
“The Civil Aviation provided the report after four years, saying that the airline, Ms Royal Air Pakistan, had taken remarkable care of Mehdi’s family,” he said, terming it all ridiculous. He said they were left with the only option of appealing to the chief justice of Pakistan to help them find the reality of the so-called air crash.
He said it was strange that the airline owner, Chaudhry Muneer, an influential person, had not claimed for the insurance of the plane. The crash investigation report mentions that the black boxes of the plane were mysteriously spoiled, adding the plane was owned by Global Georgian Airways and leased out to Royal Airlines Pakistan.
A security official on Kabul Airport had told the father of deceased Pakistani pilot that the Russians in the plane were arrested by the allied forces in Afghanistan on charges of spying and the aircraft was set ablaze to show it an air crash.