Commission to probe PK-661 crash demanded

The relatives of two of the passengers on board the plane filed the petition asking asked for an independent investigation commission to find out the cause of the accident. All 47 passengers, mostly from Chitral, and crew on board the plane died in the crash. IHC Justice Aamer Farooq took up the petition and after hearing the preliminary arguments, asked the petitioner`s counsel to come up with relevant sections of the law to support the petition. The petition has been filed by Shahida Mansoor, the mother of Ahmed Mansoor Janjua, who was the co-pilot of the plane and Atia Naz, the sister of Khawar Sohail, who was also killed in the crash. They have cited the federation of Pakistan through the secretary Ministry of Defence, DG Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, PIA chairman, chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences through secretary health and the Capital Development Authority through its administrator as respondents. The petition says that instead of checking the air-worthiness of its planes, the PIA staff sacrificed black goats in order to seek divine protection for their aircraft and passengers and claims that crash was a result of PIA incompetence. The petitioners have also questioned the ability of NDMA and PDMA for handling air crash incidents and have asked the court to direct the two authorities to formulate standing operating procedures for rescue services in cases of air crashed. The court adjourned further hearing till next week.–Dawn]]>