KARACHI: A district court has dismissed an application seeking direction for the police to register a case against Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Pakistan International Airlines chairman Arshad Malik and key engineering officers over the PK-8303 flight crash.

Advocate Qadir Khan Mandokhel moved a criminal miscellaneous application with District Judge (East) Khalid Hussain Shahani.

After hearing arguments from the applicant and the deputy district public prosecutor, the judge ordered: “Criminal Miscellaneous Application is dismissed in terms of the order.”

In June, Mr Mandokhel had moved the plea for direction to the senior superintendent police (East) and the station house officer of the Model Colony police station to book the aviation minister, the PIA chief and others for their alleged negligence in checking the ill-fated plane before allowing it to fly.

In his plea, the applicant had contended that it was the responsibility of the ground engineer and his team members at Allama Iqbal Airport, Lahore, to inspect the plane and stop it from flying if it had any technical fault, “but they failed to complete such formalities and take necessary steps”.

Mr Mandokhel had claimed that the aviation minister, PIA chairman, chief engineer, ground engineer and other staff members were responsible for the tragedy.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2020