PESHAWAR, Sept 14: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday took exception to the non-submission of the inquiry report of the last year’s Airblue plane crash and directed the ministry of defence to submit the report before the next hearing on Oct 6.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth asked Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Mohammad Iqbal Mohmand to inform the ministry of defence to ensure submission of the plane crash inquiry report by the given date.

The Airblue flight ED 202 had crashed into Margalla hills on July 28, 2010, killing all the 146 passengers and six crew members on board.

The chief justice asked the DAG for how long such inquiry reports of public importance would be concealed from the people.

He observed that under Article 19A of the Constitution every citizen had the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance.

The bench was hearing a writ petition former MNA Marvi Memon had filed on behalf of the family members of the crash victims, urging the court to direct the federal government for constituting an independent board of inquiry to determine and make public the cause of the crash.

Advocate Umer Farooq Adam appeared for the petitioner and contended that in the last hearing the court had directed the government to submit the report of the inquiry conducted after the air crash.

He stated that they had learnt that the defence ministry had received the inquiry report, but it was using delaying tactics to make it public. Referring to a communication of the ministry of defence, Mr Mohmand stated that they had received the inquiry report, but had sought certain explanations from the manufacturing company and thus it could not be made public for the time being.

Mr Adam contended that despite the passage of over a year the relatives of the deceased persons had yet to know about the cause of the accident.

The respondents in the petition are: the Federation of Pakistan, Ministry of Defence, National Disaster Management Commission, National Disaster Management Authority, Civil Aviation Authority, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Capital Development Authority and the Airblue.

The petitioner has contended that like in the other previous plane crashes the families of victims had not been taken on board about the progress of investigations.

She also stated that the Capital Development Authority should erect a memorial for the passengers buried in H-11/2 Islamabad graveyard and make easy the identification of each grave to the satisfaction of the families of victims.