ISLAMABAD - The federal government during yesterday’s National Assembly sitting informed the members that a preliminary report on the PIA plane crash in Karachi would be presented before the house on 22nd June, covering the maximum possible aspects of the tragic incident.
“Decoding of voice and data boxes has been done. The detailed report will be released later,’’ said Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar, responding to the concerns raised by the opposition members.
The Minister also assured the house that the inquiry reports of other planes crashes in the past including one in the federal capital will also be shared with the house. He said the International Pilots Association has now been requested to provide one pilot and one technician to help probe the incident.
About the concerns raised by the opposition regarding stranded Pakistanis due to the coronavirus crisis, he said nearly 56000 stranded Pakistanis have been brought back from different countries. He said 285 flights were operated to bring them back to the country.
Sharing the details of the operation, he said twelve flights were operated to the US to bring back 1200 Pakistanis. He said 479 bodies of overseas Pakistanis have also been brought back.
He said the outsourcing of airports and PIA’s Roosevelt Hotel in New York will be done in the most transparent manner and a committee for this purpose has been constituted.
The Minister further said the credentials of PIA employees were checked and 546 educational degrees were found to be fake. “Degrees of some pilots were also found to be as fake as driving licenses of taxi cab drivers,” he said adding the past governments recruited PIA employees including pilots having fake degrees.
Earlier, opposition members asked the government to share details of the PIA plane crash, compensation plan and other related matters. “Who is responsible behind the incident, so that action be taken to avoid such incidents in future,” said PML-N member Khurram Dastgir. PPP-P’s MNA Nafeesa Shah raised serious concerns over the notification issued with regard to the NFC. “I demand of the government to withdraw it,” she said, expressing dissatisfaction over the notification. She also raised concerns over the recent decision of the federal cabinet about PSM’s privatisation.
PML-N’s Mian Javed Latif, on point of order, expressed annoyance over the statement of Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid in which he said former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was reluctant to conduct nuclear tests.
PML-N’s MNA regretted that the process of giving certificates of disloyalty with the country was still on. “the person who conducted nuclear experiments is being declared a traitor while Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan was forced to apologize to the nation,” he said.