PESHAWAR, May 30: Two international aviation experts nominated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) will reach Pakistan on Saturday (June 2) for investigating the 2010 Airblue plane crash, which killed all 152 on board, and that inquiry will be completed by June 10.
This was disclosed by defence secretary Nargis Sethi on Wednesday during a Peshawar High Court hearing into a petition, which sought the two-member bench’s order for independent inquiry into the crash and provision of appropriate compensation to the families of the dead passengers and crewmembers.
Former MNA Marvi Memon and members of some dead passengers’ families filed the petition.
Also, the bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk dropped contempt of court charges against the defence secretary and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) director general Nadeem Yousafzai after they tendered unconditional apology saying they always tried their best to implement its order.
On the last hearing on April 25, the bench had issued contempt of court notices to Ms Sethi and Mr Yousafzai for not complying with its earlier order for holding re-investigation into the Airblue plane crash by international experts. The earlier investigation was rejected by the court for being faulty.
The defence secretary said her ministry had sent a letter to the CAA on February 15 for complying with the court order and subsequently, an official of the authority had a communication with the ICAO.
She, however, said the delay in the re-investigation occurred due to restructuring at the ICAO and therefore, the government might not be to blame.
Senior CAA law officer Obaidur Rehman Abbasi and Shakoor Paracha represented the authority, Afnan Kundi the defence ministry, and Wasim Sajjad and Abdul Lateef Yousafzai the Airblue.
The bench told the defence secretary that the performance of the national fleet was steadily falling and that top managers should do something to save it from complete destruction.
The secretary replied that she assumed charge only four months ago and had issued several directives to PIA managers for better performance. She also said his ministry had constantly been checking airworthiness of the planes both in public and private sectors.
The chief justice observed that the court had no desire to summon top government officials but when the issue of fundamental rights of individuals was involved, it had to summon them.
He said it was the constitutional obligation of the courts to safeguard the people’s rights and check their violation.
Also during the hearing, the bench directed the Airblue management to pay compensation to the remaining legal heirs of the passengers killed in the crash through the high court.
It directed a representative of the legal heirs, Shamim Sheikh, that those who had yet not been paid the compensation file their succession certificates.
Lawyer Wasim Sajjad said the Airblue had been paying the legal heirs of the dead passengers the Rs5.5 million compensation each, the highest in the history of the country. He said compensation to only 42 families had yet to be paid, but that the said payments were delayed only because those families were in litigation in the country and abroad. The lawyer requested the bench to withdraw its earlier order through which the federal government was ordered to suspend the Airblue operations if it failed to pay the compensation within a specific time.
The bench fixed the next hearing for June 28 asking the Airblue management to pay the rest of the compensation by then. It observed that for the time being, it couldn’t withdraw that order and would examine the situation on next hearing.
During the hearing, petitioners also complained that the federal government had also not paid compensation to all families so far.
In reply, the secretary defence informed the court that funds for the purpose would be allocated in the next budget.