Probe issues

This refers to the editorial ‘Senseless tragedy’ (May 23). The otherwise good suggestion "A thorough inquiry must be conducted and the details brought to the fore with responsible people taken to task" may not be workable in the current situation. The best way to misdirect an inquiry, suppress the true cause of accident and save those responsible from action is by appointing junior officers to conduct the probe.

In the instant case, the investigation will be conducted by a four member team of the Safety Investigation Board (SIB) headed by an air commodore along with two other officials of the airforce besides one civilian member. If the safety and flight operation procedures were not followed by the management or the maintenance of the aircraft was sloppy, would junior officials have the audacity to point a finger towards anyone senior? Such inquiries in the past have not been made public nor those responsible taken to task. The same fate may await this probe unfortunately.

Arshad M Khawaja

Karachi