PK-661 plane crash: PHC orders probe report on released in 45 days

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday ordered the federal government and the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to release the final investigation report on the PK-661 plane crash within 45 days.

A division bench of the court consisting of Justice Ikramullah Khan and Justice Ijaz Anwar ordered the release of the final investigation report through a judgement on a writ petition, which had sought the release of the report.

The PK 661 was an ATR aircraft manufactured by a Franco-Italian company and operated by the PIA since 2007. On December 7, 2016, the aircraft with 47 people on board, including five crew members crashed over Havelian while heading to Islamabad from Chitral. All 47 passengers, including Junaid Jamshed and Chitral Deputy Commissioner Osama Warraich, were killed when the PK-661, en-route to Islamabad from Chitral, crashed near Havelian on December 7, 2016. The writ petition was filed in 2018 by then Member National Assembly Chitral Shahzada Iftikhar Uddin and Adnan Zain-ul-Abideen, the brother of one of the victims through Barrister Asad-ul-Mulk, seeking the release of the final investigation report on the PK 661 crash.

On September 22, 2020, a division bench of the PHC consisting of Justice Ikramullah Khan and Justice Ijaz Anwar heard arguments from Barrister Asad-ul-Mulk, who represented the petitioners, and Deputy Attorney General Mehmood Alam Khan, Amir Javed and Arshad Jamal Qureshi, representing the federal government and PIA, respectively.

The verdict was announced by the PHC on September 22 but the written judgment was issued on Tuesday, asking the federal government and PIA to release the final investigation report on the PK- 661 crash within 45 days. The court rejected the stance of the PIA that the liability of the carrier stood exonerated with the payment of Rs5.5 million each to the families of the victims, citing Sections 17 and 21 of the 5th schedule of the Carriage by Air Act 2012 in rebuttal. The PHC judgment has cleared the way for the release of the final investigation report on the PK-661 crash. Earlier, Barrister Asadul Mulk, the counsel, submitted that the petitioners being aware of the fact that investigation into the causes of the crash of PK -661, like any other air crash investigations, would take time and patiently waited for the final report.