Airblue crash: No answers, no follow-up

Divided between hope and despondency, I demand that the authorities and the government give us answers.

Mubeshra Pracha June 07, 2011
Last summer, a commercial plane crashed into Islamabad’s Margalla Hills. This tragic event took the entire country by shock. It was heart breaking to learn that so many people lost their lives.

The incident sparked several emotions. The accident  and wounds still open, much discussion took place.

Was the bad weather to be blamed for the crash?

Was it human error in interpreting the signals from the control tower?

Or, was it one of the conspiracy theories that took shape amidst the many debates a year back?

As authorities resolved to investigate the matter, some dared to hope. Perhaps the black box sent for “expert analyses,” would yield some results?

Families of the tragic Airblue crash continue to wait for some clue that may be uncovered about Air Blue’s terrible accident. However, like all things in Pakistan, after almost a year, little has happened.

It is hard to prove whether the box ever really made it to France at all.

If it did, then should we not know the outcome of the analysis?

Unfortunately, in a country like Pakistan, the media has so many threats to worry about that there is little room left for things of the past. My analysis may sound over simplistic, naïve, or pessimistic but it is true.

In the past many probes have been brushed under the rug. Some examples include the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the OBL operation, the PNS Mehran attack and most recently, the brutal murder of the journalist Saleem Shahzad.

A commission was put together to investigate the Abbottabad operation but it was dismantled within 10 hours of its formation.

Despite the daily dose of loud political talk shows, it’s a shame that the media’s efforts hardly seem to result in fruitful impact on the people ruling this country.

Divided between hope and despondency, I demand that the authorities and the government and the many ministers that enjoy extraordinary luxuries, provide answers to the people. Perhaps frequent attacks, murders and tragedies are not circumstances we must live with - but the least we deserve are answers.
WRITTEN BY:
Mubeshra Pracha A journalism graduate from Kinnaird College, Lahore. She also writes for www.borderlinegreen.com
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (11)

Qaiser Zulfiqar | 12 years ago | Reply I lost my 29 year old younger brother in this crash who was returning from Karachi after his engagement on July 25th. I and my mother stayed for couple of days. Awfully I did not find the body of my brother for burial. The management took our DNA test for identification but no report negative or positive has ever been handed over to us which testifies that no DNA tests were ever conducted. I am an eye witness. The way operator, hospital, CAA, district government dealt with post crash situation. I, my whole family and God knows better what trauma and pain we are still going through. No one did anything for the traumatized families. We the Affectees took initiative ourselves to expose the malpractices everywhere, corruption, weaknesses of the operator and our system with the clear purpose in mind to make our skies safer for rest of the people. Air Traveling was not stopped after this crash. But no one is aware of his/her rights and obligations. Same is the case with the Airlines who never disclose their obligations to the passengers but always stresses upon their rights. We want to change the culture, the system but it is very unfortunate that we are not being supported to echo our voice against this corruption. It would be historic and milestone achievement of our group to bend the government on its knees for publicizing the crash report. It has never happened in Aviation history of Pakistan despite the fact that around 8 air disastrous air accidents has occurred but no report of any of them is available. We need public support, media’s support, Judiciary’s support to make our skies safer not for ourselves but for everybody.
Irfan Khan | 12 years ago | Reply @harris, First of all Harris, sorry for your great lose, may allah be merciful on you and your family. I will email you my complain and other related documents, but before i do that i will let you know how far i went to pursue my case i did complain airblue about this incident but their Famous Marketing director Raheel Ahmed on behest of CEO Tariq Chaudhary, told me that every thing is normal and okay and nothing can be done. He has such a twisted mind, i cant explain, they use VOIP phones from UK, their IP comany is based in Birmingham, Now picture this they act european standard comany but bottom idea is one village idiot policy. Money matters to them, when it comes to compensate they have all good reasons of world to not give away a penny, i couldnt get them in Pakistan but in Europe i did, as i used online payment the payment,which went through European server and banking system, and ultimately giving me the right to defend and protect my buying rights, I am fighting the case so far they will end paying me compensation, but picture this my lawyer told me that fear is that in order to not to obey the courts or pay against sue case they will simply change the company, declare it bankcrupt in UK, and set up new company and business as usual,My lawyer informed me that they have done it twice like this in past. the airline is comprised of bunch of idiots, they say one, do the other and show the third. I spoke on numerous occation with Raheel about my legal battle, during conversation i did mentioned him this Islamabad crash, but what this man of honour says to me boiled my blood, he told me, we werent on fault, and this is Pakistan, you pay here and there and you can save from paying larger amounts to victims. WTF** living peole got killed and you say you will bribe here and there to avoid admitting your fault. if any of victims aid the ticket online then the case can be pursued in Europe... Take care Man
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ