Friday, Feb 21, 2003
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By B. Muralidhar Reddy
Mushaf Ali Mir
A spokesperson of the Pakistan Air Force who gave details of the tragic incident at a special news conference at the Chaklala military airbase, on the outskirts of the national capital, maintained that PAF would neither rule in nor rule out any cause for the accident. To questions on what could have led to the tragedy, he repeatedly appealed to the media not to speculate and wait for the outcome of the report of a high-level inquiry ordered by the PAF. ``Be assured the inquiry would not leave out any angle in the investigation,'' he said. As per the official details, the PAF chief was heading towards the city of Kohat in the north western frontier province along with senior officers in a Fokker-27 aircraft for annual inspection of the military air base there. The aircraft took off from the Chaklala military airbase at 8 a.m. and lost contact with the Kohat control tower air base around 8.27 a.m., minutes before it was to land. The last contact between the Kohat control tower and the crew of the aircraft was when the later sought clearance to descend. Rescue operations were initiated instantaneously but no one aboard survived. The PAF spokesperson was emphatic that the aircraft, which was part of the PAF VVIP Squadron, was certified as ``flightworthy'' and was technically cleared before it took off in the morning. The spokesperson emphasised that there was nothing unusual for so many senior officers to accompany the Air Chief as he was going for an inspection. There is little doubt that the death of Air-Marshal, Ali Mir, and two Air Vice-Marshals, along with seven other senior officers and technicians, is a major loss for Pakistan. While there have been a number of accidents involving PAF aircraft, it is for the first time in Pakistan's history that its Air Chief is a victim. In a statement, the PAF said the wreckage had been found 27 km west of Kohat. It is said the plane crashed in the Tolanj Mountains due to bad weather. However, the PAF statement said the cause was yet not confirmed. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf and the Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, expressed shock over the incident. Gen. Musharraf appointed Air Marshal Syed Qaiser Hussain as the Acting Air Chief.
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