PPP for independent probe into PIA plane crash

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Wednesday demanded an independent inquiry into the PIA plane crash and sacking of Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

In a tweet, Bilawal said Prime Minister Imran Khan used to say that if there was a train crash, the minister should be sacked, and if there was a plane crash the aviation minister should be sacked. "Now he blames the pilot and air traffic controller for the PIA crash,” he tweeted.

Bilawal said victim blaming and scapegoatism must end.

”We demand an independent inquiry. The minister must go,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, PPP Information Secretary Dr Nafisa Shah raised questions about the interim inquiry report on the plane crash and said the government was hiding facts by blaming the pilot for the crash.

“Through this controversial report, this incapable government has destroyed the credibility of the pilot, which is a condemnable act,” she said.

She asked if the pilots were responsible then how those who had taken their tests and issued licences could be given a clean chit.

"What actions were suggested in the report against the officials of the Civil Aviation Authority?” she asked.

Dr Nafisa Shah said the Civil Aviation Authority Director Flight Standard was sacked for fake documents and the government should tell how he was reinstated on the basis of seniority.

She said not only pilot, but also the federal government, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan and chairman PIA were equally responsible for the tragic incident.

“If there is fault of the pilot, there is no mention of mistakes and other factors of the crash,” she said.