APROPOS of your editorial ‘Air safety’ (Oct 5) I agree with your assertion that the government slows down the process of investigation of air crash disasters in our country. This pain is more intense than what it appears to be, because there may be tremendous vested interest of a few individuals that is visible to a few only.

This phenomenon of slowing down or deflecting the smooth path of air crash investigations is engineered. The people at the helm of affairs are either incompetent to identify the persons responsible for such delays or they are in connivance with those who cause such delays purposely.

In the investigation into recent crashes of Air Blue and Bhoja Air, both courts and victims’ families are being hoodwinked by shifting the onus of delay on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

It is common knowledge in the aviation industry that the ICAO is an organisation that does not conduct investigation, but still the court and the public are being misled. The role of the ICAO is advisory and recommendatory and it leaves to member-states to sort out all other related matters.

This is so because of two core principles that the ICAO is required to follow.

First, it needs to keep its neutrality and, secondly, it does not interfere in the matters where there exists the slightest chance of intruding into the sovereignty of a state.

At the most the governments may request the ICAO to identify suitable persons who are experts in conducting specialised investigations of an air crash.

This job of identifying the neutral experts perhaps can better be done by the US-based professional organisation ‘International Society of Air Crash Investigators’ (ISASI). Although some experts from the ICAO have visited Pakistan in June last, it is doubtful if they have conducted any investigation and it is yet to be shown if such investigation of a treacherous matter is possible in the short span of time.

The credibility of claims of investigation by these experts is vitiated by the fact that these visiting ICAO experts were not allowed to meet the victims’ families and were kept away from the media. I am sure that future developments will show that this so-called investigation by the ICAO is bound to be another faux pas.

Instead of misleading the courts and the public, aviation regulators may look into their archive and do some soul-searching to know that in the case of crash investigation of PIA flight 268 that crashed at Katmandu on Sept 28, 1992, the government of Pakistan sought assistance of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

The Nepalese government recently sought assistance of Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the UK to investigate air crash of DANA Air on Sept 28 last.

It is time the ministry of defense put its foot down and be pragmatic to understand that the ICAO has nothing to do with in-country air crash investigation. The ministry must move to identify neutral foreign investigators with the help of ISASI or ICAO and truthfully advise the court and the public.

To earn public appreciation and as a first step, the ministry should publicly disclose all the last moments’ communication stored in the cockpit voice recorder and the air traffic control data.

Dr Abdul Razzaq Karachi