I AM the father of Mirza Wahid Beg, who passed away in the Pakistan International Airline’s flight PK8303 crash. Recently, the Sindh governor held a press conference justifying the steps taken by PIA in terms of its interactions with the families of the victims.

Sadly, instead of meeting the families first, the governor chose to comment on the basis of whatever the PIA officials would have told him.

The governor mentioned that an amount of Rs100,000 was given to each family for the loss of baggage. He did not check what the international rule says for such a loss. In my case, not a single item of my 27-year-old son, my only son, was shown to the family.

Further, the governor mentioned twice that the total compensation amount was being given to families providing the succession certificate.

He did not mention the fact that PIA is forcing the families of victims to sign a certain form providing indemnity to the airline against future claims. The said form has already been declared illegal by the Peshawar High Court.

We lost our loved ones and all that is left there is our dignity. Please do not allow the PIA management to play with it.

Mirza Naim Beg
Karachi

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2021