A consistently high number of “near-misses” and the dismal safety record of the Pakistan International Airlines should have well-prepared everyone for a disaster in the making. While the previous incidents were not taken seriously by the aviation authorities, Wednesday night’s devastating plane crash near the northern town of Havelian validates the urgent need for a meaningful investigation. If the loss of as many as 48 precious lives is unable to prompt some soul-searching in the authorities, God knows which deadlier accident will!
Junaid Jamshed, the legendary singer-cum-evangelist, and his wife along with Chitral Deputy Commissioner, Osama Ahmad Warraich, and his family were among those killed in the PK-661 crash. It is not yet clear what caused a plane that had passed a maintenance check only two months earlier to plummet out of a sky amid reportedly clear weather conditions. However, the very fact that the pilot had issued a mayday call with reference to engine failure does spill a lot about what might have gone wrong.
Even though the carrier itself has been crash-free for the last decade, Pakistan still needs to learn from a checkered history of aviation disasters. The Karachi crash of a PAF aeroplane in October had occurred only a month after a fighter jet had dropped in the mountainous terrain of Khyber Agency. Another major accident had taken place last year in the country’s north when a military helicopter had crashed, killing eight people that included the Norwegian, Philippine and Indonesian ambassadors and the wives of Malaysian and Indonesian envoys. In 2012, Bhoja Air Flight 123 had crashed in bad weather while attempting to land at Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad, killing 127 passengers and crew members. Two fatal commercial air crashes claimed as many as 33 lives within days of each other in 2010. The deadliest accident also occurred in the same year, when an Airblue Flight 202 lost balance and crashed into hills outside Islamabad, killing all 152 people on board. PIA itself has been involved in at least eight of the 16 major aviation accidents in the last five decades. In a horrific accident in 1992, its Airbus A300 had killed 167 people as it crashed into a hillside during an international flight to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.
What all these tragedies have in common is the incessant mourning of the families whose dear ones were devoured while officials have not done much except express regret. Given the increasing frequency of these crashes as well as the perpetual losses of human lives, mere compensation announcements can no longer do the trick. We need a thorough safety audit of airline fleets and traffic controllers across the country among other related infrastructure and equipment in order to identify all that has previously gone wrong. A highly rigorous set of guidelines needs to be implemented to undermine the risks that continue to taint air travel despite such phenomenal technological advances. Such precautions can only be taken if the authorities show a determined resolve to uphaul the entire system to prevent these accidents in the future. Our oft-criticised safety standards, which have repeatedly resulted in near-misses when planes have over-shot runways, nearly escaped collisions and even had their engines catch fire, should be immediately replaced with an efficient framework. Investing in new fleets is urgently required to help act against the lethally outdated engines. However, the government also needs to check the thriving nepotism prevalent within the airline and the aviation authorities to ensure all relevant appointments are made in accordance with merit.
Yesterday’s crash made Pakistan endure the crucial losses of a legendary television icon as well as a senior civilian bureaucrat. These shining men who had already significantly added to the country’s glory will always be remembered by not just their families but the entire nation. It is hoped that their untimely demise would serve as a wake-up call for the government to set this department straight. After all, Pakistan deserves an air travel that is efficient, comfortable, and above all, safe.
We at Daily Times extend our heartfelt condolences to the families and loves ones of all victims in this time of inconsolable grief.
The situation in Aleppo
As the Syrian rebels started their withdrawal from one of their last strongholds in Aleppo, they have asked for a five day truce for the safe evacuation of civilians. The Syrian government, however, has been cold in its response, and has ruled out the truce altogether. President of Syria Bashar al-Assad has expressed his certitude at achieving victory in Aleppo, and hence the hunt for rebel fighters is expected to continue unabated. The veto by Russia and China on a Security Council resolution by US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Canada to call for an immediate ceasefire in Aleppo has also emboldened Assad to continue his assault on rebel fighters with impunity.
The four year long battle in Aleppo brought the Syrian civil war right to its urban centre and lead to the loss of many civilian lives. It turned a bustling city into a battle ground and radically altered the lives of those living there. Bombs and missiles do not distinguish between innocent or guilty, young or old, civilian or soldier, and privileged or underprivileged. As all of the residents of Aleppo were subjected to the terror of these instruments of destruction, some tried to flee. And their fate was revealed all too vividly as bodies shoaled up on the banks of the beaches from where they were trying to reach Europe. Some of those who did manage to cross into Greece later were transported back to Turkey under an agreement between the European Union and the Turkish government, while a majority of those who managed to stay in Europe were ridiculed by some of the locals for having expensive cellphones yet masquerading as refugees just to get into Europe. In all of this, sympathy for the Syrian refugees was noticeably lacking as countries rushed to close off their borders and protect themselves from the supposed threat that these refugees presented to their societies.
The question of the responsibility over the death and destruction in Syria is a tricky one as there are a lot of factors that have enmeshed together to form the mess that Syria is right now. Undeniably, the arbitrary manner in which the borders in the Middle Eastern were initially formed following the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire and the way state structures were then set up by imperialist powers — Britain and France — to form unrepresentative governments, of which Assad is an example, laid the roots for the much of the conflict that is observed in the Middle East today. However, western intervention under the misguided policy of overthrowing the existing authoritarian governments has exacerbated matters even further. This is all the more relevant for Syria as western support for the rebels has increased the duration of the war, and only achieved suffering for the people of Syria. While it is true that Assad is oppressive and authoritarian, but, in lieu of a well-thought out policy to oust him, merely providing assistance to rebel groups would not in any way help in making Assad less oppressive. And this is exactly what has happened. Assad continues to attack and bomb rebel targets without caring for the death and destruction resulting from his actions. Meanwhile, the civil war has even allowed ISIS to carve out a space for itself in Syria and provide an even more terrifying alternative than Assad.
Hence, where the flawed policies of western powers have contributed to bringing all this death and destruction in the region, it is now also their responsibility to ensure that innocent Syrians do not have to suffer anymore. According to a statement by the rebel Aleppo Leadership Council, there are 500 cases that require immediate medical treatment under UN supervision. Perhaps, western powers can up their pressure on Assad to call for a ceasefire for the evacuation of these persons.
