MULTAN, July 13: The Academic Staff Association of the Bahauddin Zakariya University has demanded resignation of the PIA chairman, saying the federal government decision to ground all Fokker planes has reinforced the notion that the national flag carrier was in fact operating ‘fatal planes’.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, BZUASA president Prof Dr Abdul Qaddus Sohaib and general secretary Prof Dr Saeed Akhtar said that the PIA chairman should have enough moral courage to step down after the Fokker’s Multan tragedy and subsequent realisation in Islamabad to do away with the obsolete aircraft.

They expressed dismay over what they termed rhetoric of the top PIA, CAA and government officials that the Fokker was the safest aircraft ever designed. “If that was the case then the plane should have been given to the VVIP personalities of the country for their safety,” they maintained.

It may be added here that the BZU vice chancellor and renowned scientist Prof Dr Naseer Khan and Urdu Department head Dr Abdul Rauf Sheikh were among the victims of the PK-688.

The BZUASA office-bearers reposed confidence in acting vice chancellor Prof Dr Hayat Awan and hoped that he would continue the policies of Late Naseer Khan.

Meanwhile, a team of experts in explosives visited the Multan Airport, its runway and the site of the crash in Suraj Miani. A source at the airport said that the team was perhaps working on the so-far-ruled-out possibility of the involvement of a sabotage act.

The PIA management has rescheduled its flight timetable after the ban on the operation of Fokker. Under the new schedule, Boeing has been introduced for all destinations from Multan.