Fokker crash victims cry for justice after 10 years
 

BAHAWALPUR: It is around ten years ago that on 10th July 2006, a Fokker aircraft cashed in Multan and all 127 souls onboard perished. Among the dead there was a passenger, Dr Altaf Hussain, an associate professor of psychiatry in Bahawalpur, who was travelling from Multan to Istanbul and hence was an international passenger.

It is established international law that legal heirs of a passenger are paid a fixed amount of compensation as according to international civil aviation practice, all the travelling passengers are insured prior to the plane is allowed to take off.

PIA paid an amount of Rs2 million to legal heirs of each of the domestic passengers as there was ** law at that time that stipulated a fixed amount of compensation for domestic passengers.

However, subsequently carriage by Air Act 2012 was promulgated and legal heirs of both Air-Blue and Bhoja Air crash were paid Rs5 million each irrespective of eco**mic worth of the the travelling passengers.

The compensation regime for international passengers is governed by the Warsaw Convention and the amount is much higher and is payable under Carriage by Air (International Convention) Act 1966. However, according to legal heirs of deceased Dr Altaf Hussain, the PIA management connived with the agent of the insurance company and they refused to pay compensation amount as per Carriage by Air (International Convention) Act 1966 and instead attempted to treat his case like a domestic passenger.

The legal heirs refused to accept this illegal treatment and decided to file a suit in Sindh high court which is pending even after 10th anniversary.

The evidence in this case has been completed in 2014 and final arguments are being delayed for one reason or the other. The case has been adjourned over 100 times since its filing and during the last 10 years total hearing time before the judge has been less than an hour.

Interestingly as per policy of the high court, the case was assigned a priority of fast-track in 2012, but even this priority could **t relieve the legal heirs from the agonies and pain as even if the case is fixed for hearing, the matter is **t placed before the judge for being fixed at far end of daily roaster. The tragedy of delayed justice goes on.

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