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ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The PML-N has rejected the three-man inquiry commission set up by the government to investigate the Friday’s crash of a Bhoja Air plane, terming it a “disastrous cover-up”. It said it intended to challenge it either in a court or in parliament.
“The PML-N and other opposition parties in no way will facilitate this cover-up and will challenge it either in the court or in parliament or by any means,” the Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, said at a news conference at the Punjab House on Sunday.
The PML-N leader also challenged the legal status of the inquiry commission set up by the government on Saturday night and said it could not be called a “judicial commission” by any means as it had not been set up with the approval of the Supreme Court or a high court as was required under the law.
“You can give it any name you want, but it cannot be called a judicial commission,” he said.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif also rejected the judicial probe and termed it a ‘fraud’.
In a statement issued in Lahore, he said the federal government was trying to ‘hoodwink’ the people.
“The judicial commission set up by the federal government to investigate the crash of the aircraft of Bhoja Air is a fraud. There is no serving judicial officer in the commission as it has been set up without the consultation of the Chief Justice of Pakistan therefore it has no legal standing,” the chief minister said in the statement.
The government had constituted the inquiry commission on Saturday headed by Justice (retd) Syed Zahid Hussain and comprising Justice (retd) Nasim Sikandar and another member to be nominated by the ministry of interior to investigate the Friday’s plane crash.
The ministry has reportedly nominated Dr Wasim Kausar, a senior police officer, as a member and the secretary of the commission.
The notification was issued hours after a formal announcement by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani about setting up a judicial inquiry commission during a visit to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences where he had gone to offer condolences to heirs of the passengers killed in the crash.
Chaudhry Nisar said that only serving judges could become members of the judicial commission. On the other hand, he said, members of the commission announced by the government “did not even deserve to be called judges” as they were thrown out of judiciary for taking oath under the illegal PCO (Provisional Constitution Order) issued by Gen Pervez Musharraf.
The PML-N leader recalled that both the judges had to quit the judiciary after receiving contempt of court notices from the Supreme Court in the light of its verdict in the PCO case. He expressed his surprise over the government’s decision to nominate “the Musharraf remnants” as members of the commission, saying that the “nomination of these controversial persons” showed that the rulers wanted to hide some facts.
The opposition leader alleged that the rulers had always attempted to hide their corruption and now they had developed a habit of hiding facts about every incident. He cited the examples of Haj scam, Memogate, Abbottabad incident, attack on the Mehran naval base in Karachi and the chemical import scandal involving the prime minister’s son.
He accused the government of mishandling even a human tragedy that had nothing to do with politics. He, however, alleged that it appeared that the government wanted to protect some people who were responsible for the crash.
He particularly criticised the appointment of Nadeem Yousufzai as the director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority. Without naming, he called him an associate of President Asif Ali Zardari.
The PML-N leader said the government was handling the Bhoja plane crash exactly the way it had handled a similar tragedy when an Airblue plane had crashed in Margallah Hills some two years ago.
He said so far no one had been held responsible for the Airblue plane crash and all people working in different aviation-related organisations were still there.
