PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday demanded the federal government’s investigation into the PIA plane crash, which killed all 47 passengers and crew members in Abbottabad on Wednesday afternoon, through a high-level committee.

It also asked the federal government to publicise the causes of PIA’s financial crisis and appointments to the airline for the alleged political reasons and on the basis of nepotism.

The demands were made through two different resolutions, which were unanimously passed by the house.

Seeks causes of PIA’s financial crisis, airline appointments on ‘political basis’

A PIA flight en route to Islamabad from Chitral crashed into the mountains near Havelian tehsil of Abbottabad on Wednesday afternoon killing all 47 people on board.

The first resolution was tabled by ANP parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak stating the federal government should conduct a high-level investigation into the Abbottabad air crash and that the provincial and federal governments should compensate its victims.

Through the resolution, the house also expressed sorrow and grief at the loss of lives in the incident.

Besides mover, the resolution was also signed by finance minister Muzaffar Said, law minister Imtiaz Qureshi, leader of the opposition Maulana Lutfur Rehman, MPAs Fazl Ghafoor of the JUI, Fakhar Azam of the PPP, Mohammad Rashad Khan of the PML-N and Dr Haider Ali of the PTI.

The second resolution regarding the plane crash was tabled by PTI’s Dr Haider Ali. It, too, was unanimously passed by the house.

The house demanded the federal government lay the reasons before the people for the PIA’s financial crisis, appointment of employees on the basis of nepotism and political reasons, and lack of the people’s trust in PIA.

It also sought the details of the appointments to PIA during the last 40 years.

Earlier, participating in the debate, Aurangzeb Nalotha of the PML-N, in whose constituency the air crash took place, said the local residents gathered charred bodies and body parts in shawls and sheets and shifted them to ambulances parked several kilometers away. He said all bodies were shifted to the Ayub Medical Hospital at around 1am on Wednesday that night.

Mr. Nalotha demanded the government hold impartial inquiry into the incident.

Mohammad Ali of the JI insisted the people had lost trust in PIA due to the dilapidated conditions of airplanes and that they considered PIA flights to be unsafe.

“No one trusts PIA anymore as it doesn’t offer any facility to passengers,” he said.

Public health engineering minister Shah Farman said the condition of PIA planes was so bad that one couldn’t rule out the possibility of more crashes in future.

He said the PIA’s annual losses totaled Rs5 billion. The minister said the PIA officials put the number of the airline’s employees at 17,000 though there was a need for 3,000 staff members only.

“Most PIA employees were appointed by the successive rulers just to make their respective voters happy and thus, ensuring their stable political base,” he said.

The minister said the PIA chief insisted the airline had 14,000 surplus employees. He said those who destroyed the airline were murderers.

Qaumi Watan Party MPA Bakht Baidar said there were reports of the crashed plane being faulty and that ‘exemplary punishment’ should be given to the people responsible for the air crash.

Dr Haider Ali of the PTI said air crashes took place in developed countries, too, but their authorities thoroughly and fairly probed such incidents before handing down punishment to the culpable persons.

He added that in light of those probes, measures were taken to prevent future plane crashes.

Azazul Mulk of the JI, Fazl Ghafoor of the JUI-F, Fakhar Azam of the PPP, Amna Sardar of the PML-N also participated in the debate on air crash.

Also, a heated debate was seen on the ownership of forests in Malakand division, where the local residents have been staging protests on the matter for seven months.

The lawmakers said the government had disregarded the people’s demands that could trigger anti-government movement in the region.

The house debated the royalty issue after a joint adjournment motion was tabled by MPAs Mohammad Ali and Jaffar Shah.

Deputy Speaker Prof Mehar Taj Roghani, who was in the chair, formed a special committee of the house to amicably resolve the issue.

The members also adopted a resolution asking the provincial government to form a ‘parliamentary minority caucus’ of the assembly.

JUI-F’s Askar Pervez had tabled the resolution.

The chair later adjourned the session until next Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2016