MULTAN: An additional district and sessions judge on Wednesday directed the Cantonment SHO to submit a report on a petition seeking registration of a case against former officials of PIA and CAA for their alleged negligence in the Fokker crash incident in 2006.

All 46 passengers and the staff had lost their lives in the tragic incident.

Shahbaz Ali Khan Gurmani, in a petition filed through his counsel Fahim Akhtar Gill, stated that the plane (registration No F-27, AP-BAL) had been declared a flying coffin and a hanger queen by the PIA administration in 2005 after its right engine caught fire at the Islamabad airport.

The petitioner made respondents the then PIA chairman Tariq Kirmani, air safety senior vice-president Capt Shahnawaz Dara, SVP’s flights operation S.M Athar, chief pilot (planning and scheduling) Captain Sohail, PIA’s district manager Bashiruddin, Multan’s PIA manager Malik Bashir, Multan shift in-charge Muhammad Jamil, corporate planning director Muhammad Arshad Hussain, Multan’s flight services director Umer Ghafoor, PIA’s quality insurance director Captain Javed Khan, PIA’s Multan flight insurance director Captain Asif Raza, PIA’s Multan engineering director Saeed Akhtar, Karachi’s CAA director-general Pervez Akhtar Nawaz and Karachi’s CAA Airworthiness director Karachi Zaffarullah Khan.

The petitioner said the plane had been shifted towards Multan with the mutual consent of respondents that led to its crash at 12.04pm, some three kilometer from the airport when it took off for Lahore at 12.01pm.

He stated that the flight (PK-688) had been carrying two judges of the Lahore High Court (Multan bench) Justice Nazir Ahmed Siddiqi and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Bhatti, BZU vice-chancellor Dr Muhammad Naseer Ahmed Khan, former principal of KEMC Dr Raja Iftikhar Ali and other prominent personalities of the country.

He alleged that the plane was used for flight operations due to the negligence, malicious intention and criminal conspiracy of respondents.

The petitioner said despite submitting a written application the SHO concerned had refused to register a case saying the City Police Officer directed him not to do so.

The court directed the SHO concerned to submit a report on the issue before his court on June 23.

SECURITY FINALISED: The Multan police have made security arrangements for 1,136 mosques of different sects for the month of Ramazan.

According to a handout issued here on Wednesday, SSP (Operations) Muhammad Saleem will monitor security and duty-related issues.

It states that there are 123 mosques of A category, 605 of B and 408 of C category of major sects where 2,470 policemen including four SPs, 11 DSPs, 17 inspectors, 74 sub-inspectors and 88 assistant-sub inspectors will perform their duties.

Police commandos will patrol the streets and roads of the city.

Pickets will be established on main city roads while administrations of mosques have been asked to inform the police about any suspicion person, it states.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play