SHC moved for judicial inquiry into PK-661 crash

A petition was filed in the Sindh High Court on Friday seeking a judicial inquiry into the Pakistan International Airlines flight PK-661 crash in which 42 passengers and crew, including singer-turned preacher Junaid Jamshed and his wife, were killed.

Petitioner Syed Iqbal Kazmi submitted in the petition that an Islamabad-bound flight of the national flag carrier had crashed after it took off from Chitral on December 7. He submitted that the director general of the Civil Aviation Authority had sent a letter to his high-ups in which startling disclosures were made about the functioning of ATR planes. The petitioner said 20 incidents were recorded wherein the engines of the ATR planes used by the national flag carrier had stopped during flight. Besides, 90 cases of ATR planes’ removal of engines too were recorded.

He argued that after the occurrence of such incidents in the past, it was the constitutional obligation of the cabinet division secretary, the Civil Aviation Authority DG and the PIA chairman to refrain from purchasing outdated planes, using them and risking the lives of passengers and crew.

He alleged that the respondents’ act amounted to the violation of the Article 9 of the Constitution as well as the civil aviation rules

Kazmi pleaded to the court to conduct a judicial inquiry into the PK-661 plane crash to fix the responsibility on the officials responsible for it, prosecute them and order compensation of the the legal heirs of the victims. He requested the court to direct the respondents ground all the planes currently being used by the national flag carrier and order their inspection through the CAA or any other independent investigating agency or department.

Pir Mazharul Haq plea

The SHC extended on Friday the protective bail to former education minister Pir Mazharul Haq. It also directed the special prosecutor of the National Accountability Bureau to file comments on a petition filed the former education minister against the initiation of an inquiry against him by NAB.

Haq, the senior provincial minister for education in the previous Sindh government, had moved court against the decision of NAB’s executive board that decided to initiate an inquiry against him for illegal appointments in the education department and receiving bribe. The petitioner’s counsel, Shahadat Awan, submitted in the petition that Haq had been subjected to victimisation during previous governments but the accountability courts had acquitted him of all charges.

He submitted that government wanted to initiate proceedings against him on basis of flimsy allegations and prayed to the court to restrain NAB from taking any coercive action against the petitioner.

The NAB counsel submitted that an inquiry against the petitioner has been conducted over illegal appointments in the education department which would be concluded soon and sought time to file comments.

An SHC’ division bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto observed that Haq and two other education officers were on interim bail and directed the NAB counsel, who sought time to file comments, to submit them without failure on the next date of hearing.