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| India-Pakistan |
| November 3rd aircraft crash landing to be investigated as terror act |
| 2015-11-18 |
| LAHORE: The Civil Aviation Authority told an anti-terrorism court here on Tuesday that the ‘element of terrorism’ was also being explored during the investigation into the crash-landing of a private airline’s plane at the Allama Iqbal International Airport on Nov 3. Advocate Usman Arif, the authority’s counsel, said Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act was rightly inserted in the FIR because everyone on board had been terrorised by the crash-landing. The investigators were seriously examining the possibility of the pilots’ links with any terrorist organisation, he added. The CAA’s counsel said the interim medical examination of crewmembers of the Shaheen Air plane conducted just after the accident had revealed that Captain Asmat Mahmood, the pilot, had unacceptable level of alcohol. He said the accident jeopardised the lives of passengers on board and it might have caused grave potential repercussions. Sarwar Road police produced the accused before the presiding judge of ATC-II, Khwaja Zafar Iqbal and the investigating officer sought the pilot’s remand for 13 days. Advocate Hassan Warraich, the pilot’s counsel, opposed the remand’s request and argued that inclusion of Section 7 of ATA in the FIR had no justification. He said the chairman of a departmental inquiry had declared his client a ‘hero’ for saving lives of the passengers. The pilot had to crash-land the plane due to a problem in the landing gear. Mr Warraich said pilots were not responsible for any mechanical problem occurring during a flight because it concerned the engineering team. A considerable delay in registration of FIR showed the mala fide intention of the authorities. He alleged that the pilot was being made a scapegoat to save many other influential authorities. The counsel asked the court to delete Section 7 of ATA from the FIR and refer the case to a court of ordinary law. After hearing arguments from both sides, the court allowed a seven-day physical remand and directed the investigating officer to complete investigation by the next hearing. Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2015 |
| Posted by:badanov |