Inquiry Commission on plane crash is flagrant violation of the Annex-13 of Chicago Convention on Air Accidents, and its findings will not be accepted.
Only the establishment of an independent and impartial commission can end the unrest among the people.
These views were expressed in the Vigil organized by the National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF) , Home Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) , Lyari Awami Mahaz (LAM) and other political, social, human and labour rights organizations at Karachi Press Club today in memory of the passengers and crew members killed in the Karachi plane crash.
Speaking at the condolence meeting, Nasir Mansoor, Secretary-General, National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF) expressed his heartfelt condolences to the families of the 97 passengers and crew members killed in the tragic accident. He said the the Civil Aviation Authority, PIA, and the Ministry of Aviation are salting the wounds of the victims with their inhumane and biased behavior and are constantly hampering the investigation process.
He said the PIA CEO had cast doubt on his impartiality by declaring that there was no technical glitch in the crashed plane well before any investigation. Moreover, by nominating his parent institution’s official which were also juniors to him as members in the inquiry committee, it has made the transparency of the investigation completely unacceptable and even more dubious.
The labor leader added that like the previous several accidents, efforts to save those responsible for the accident have continued. Proof of this is the fact that an investigation team has been formed in complete disregard of ” Annex 13 of the International Chicago Convention” on the investigation of air accidents. Inquiry team members were in no way qualified to get to the bottom of this important and sensitive issue.
Nasir Mansoor emphasized that in accordance with the Chicago Convention, Appendix 13, 11th Edition, 2016, which says
“A State shall establish an accident investigation authority that is independent of State aviation authorities and other entities that could interfere with the conduct or objectivity of an investigation”.
The organizational structure of the Investigation Committee here in Pakistan as we witnessed, is in direct violation of this general rule, which is a universal standard in the aviation environment.
Therefore, it has become necessary to set up an independent and impartial commission that can help bring justice to the bereaved in the light of international conventions.
Former General Secretary of Pakistan Medical Association Dr. Sher Shah while expressing his views said that those who lost their lives in the recent Flight 8303 crash should not be called martyrs because they were neither jihadists nor returning from pilgrimages or preaching to fight the enemies of Islam or fight for the homeland.
He added that plane crash victims were ordinary innocent citizens and very normal persons who were returning from Lahore to Karachi by a plane. Among them were a medical student, a very senior pediatrician, some soldiers, and their families who were returning to celebrate Eid with their families, an anchor of a private TV channel, a young embryologist. These were all ordinary people and dismal run of PIA, civil aviation affairs violated their trust,
He pointed at the CEO of PIA and said “Your aircraft was not able to land on the first try. You failed to check the performance of the Civil Aviation Department for the purpose of passenger safety. It is an act of shame that the CEO of PIA called a press conference and declared that everything is fine in PIA. And then also said that those innocent people were martyrs. What kind of professionals are there who have failed to accept responsibility for this catastrophe and are blaming the dead?
Dr. Sher Shah lamented that those innocent brothers and sisters were citizens of our country who died a painful and horrible death due to old years of incompetence and inattentions. Please don’t call them martyrs to hide your incompetence, indifference, and incompetence because “it really hurts a lot.”
Zulfiqar Shah, co-director PILER said an impartial inquiry into the accident was impossible in the presence of the current head of the PIA. As under the guise of the Corona epidemic, they have suspended the basic rights of PIA employees by enforcing the Essential Services Act of the last century, in clear violation of international labor laws and the country’s constitution.
Habib Uddin Junaid, president peoples labor Bureau said it becomes a habit of PIA management that identifying technical glitches and complaints about faults in planes had been described as a tactic by employees and pilot’s organizations to black mail them.
Comrade Khaliq Zadran, Convener of Lyari Awami Mahaz, expressed concern over the criminal negligence in providing timely information to the families of the victims while conducting DNA tests on several of the victims. However, unnecessary delays in the delivery of the dead bodies had caused further distress to the bereaved families.
In the Vigil is was demanded that an independent inquiry commission should be constituted in accordance with Chicago Convention and also include workers and pilots’ representatives, CEO of PIA and head of CAA should resign as no impartial inquiry possible in their presence, airbus should also be taken to task as the company criminally neglect their legal responsibilities.
Other speakers included Asad Butt, vice president Human Rights Commission, Sindh chapter , Professor Tauseef Ahmed, Farhat Parveen, Nao Community, Mehnaz Rehman, Aurat Foundation, Dr Asghar Dashti, Comrade Wahid Baloch, Comrade Saeed Baloch, Pakistan Fiaherfolk Forum, Shabnam Azam , vice president Home Based Women Workers Federation, Shabnam, Nisha Rao, transgender community representative, Comrade Aslam Khokhar, General Secretary, Mazdoor Kisan Party (MKP) , Karachi. Sheikh Majeed representative PIA Union, Comrade Zubair, Comrade Gul Muhammed Mangi, Comrade Rasheed, Comrade Nisar Shaikh, Comrade Abdul Rehman Baloch, Saeeda Khatoon, chairperson Baldia Tragedy Victims Association, Khidr Qazi, Human Rights Activist, Mehboob Malik, PC secretary workers union, Comrade Jabbar Khaskhaili, Aqib Hussain, Himat Ali, Sindh Sujagi Mazdoor, Basit Ali, Textile Garments General Workers Union, , Muqader Zaman, railways mazdoor union, Khubab Hayat, human right activist and many activists were present.
