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THE REAL OPINION > By > SAAD KHAN:

I was shocked to read the account on Pakistaniat regarding the ‘branding’ of a coffin based on the religion of its resident. Prem Chand, a promising youth activist and member of the Youth Parliament of Pakistan died in the ED 202 crash. His body was identified by his cousin and later put into a coffin. Until this identification and “coffinization”, the process was smooth and uncontroversial.

Tragedy struck when some medic put the word ‘Kafir’ on his coffin. Kafir literally translates into infidel in English. The name Kafir was not just written but also highlighted in a red marker. Thanks to some sane people out there, they quickly blackened the derogatory word and instead wrote “We love you – from the youth parliament.”

Thankfully this was done before the coffin was dispatched to his family living in the interior part of Sindh. What would have happened had the religious slur remained on the coffin? I can’t even think of the shock it would have caused on the already grief stricken family.

I don’t know if the coffin of the fallen flight attendant Naheed Bhatti, who was a Christian, was also branded as Kafir?

This Kafir branding needs to come to an end. It is not just heartless and in bad taste but utterly shocking and disrespectful. Pakistan already has a poor reputation regarding the treatment of minorities and this episode will certainly not alleviate this perception.

ISLAMABAD: The black box of the ill-fated Airblue plane in which 152 people died has been found finally – after several days of contradictory reports and rumors.

The 10-year-old Airbus 321, operated by Airblue, slammed into Margalla Hills overlooking capital Islamabad in heavy rain and poor visibility on Wednesday as it came into land after a morning flight from Karachi.

According to reports, investigators searching the crash site found the plane’s black box around noon Saturday, the minister of interior and a civil aviation official said on Saturday.

“The investigating committee found the black box from the Margalla Hills this morning,” Junaid Ameen, director-general of the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority, told AFP by telephone.

“The black box was found from the bulk of the wreckage of the crashed plane. It is going to be a central part of our investigation,” Ameen said, adding that it would be sent to “foreign experts” for decoding.

Interior minister Rehman Malik also confirmed the find.

“I have received the confirmation that the black box of the crashed plane has been found,” Malik told a private TV news channel Geo.

Ameen said the black box was recovered at 12:55pm local time by a joint team of French experts, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Capital Development Authority and Islamabad police.

“The black box is now in our possession. Its condition and other things will be analysed. Let’s see what we are able to get from the results,” Ameen said.

A five-person team from Airbus, based in Toulouse, France, was assisting with the recovery and using cutters to slice through the wreckage.

Pakistan does not have the proper expertise to decode information stored on the recorder, so it plans to send it elsewhere, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.

The authority’s spokesman, Pervez George, said Friday that the decoding process could take a month.

There are only four laboratories in the world that analyzes the black box, one of them being based in the United States.

The Airblue crash in Islamabad that killed all 152 on board on Wednesday, was the worst aviation tragedy on Pakistani soil.

Pakistani Talk Show Views On News with Dr. Shahid Masood discuss where the Pakistani politicians are as the nation mourn the death of 152 people in the AirBlue plane crash at Margalla Hills in Islamabad. Imran Khan says a massive revolution is on its way specially from the urban youth. Either it will be through the ballot or blood. Guests: Imran Khan (PTI), Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed (AML), Naimatullah Khan (Al Khidmat Fdn)

Pakistani Talk Show Off The Record with Kashif Abbasi discusses why Air Blue jet crashed in Margalla Hills in capital Islamabad. Was it pilot error? Or was it fatigue? Or was it bad weather? Or was it a combination of all these factors? Also, where are the injured (5 to 7) as reported earlier? Where is the lady who called that she was injured but trapped? Who was in-charge in disaster management? Guests: Dr. Shahid Masood (ARY), Mazhar Abbas (ARY), Sohail Baloch (Pilot’s Assoc), Mohsin Reza (ARY), Jamal Leghari (PML-Q)..

KARACHI: The ill-fated Air Blue passenger plane that met a dreadful fate in Margalla Hills outside capital Islamabad, killing all 152 people on board today, had made an emergency landing at the Karachi airport on July 7 due to a technical fault while heading toward Islamabad, sources told Daily Times.

An inquiry team headed by air commodore Abdul Majid formed to probe into flight 202 crash today would especially focus on this incident during its investigation, sources told the newspaper.

The Airbus 321 plane was carrying 256 passengers back then, and had developed a fault in one of its engine, sources said. They added that this information was never made public by AirBlue but it was simply announced that there was a technical glitch in the plane.

An employee of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) told the BBC that in 2008, one of Airblue’s aircraft had been grounded in Manchester in the UK – he said an inspector had noted a serious fault with the aircraft several months earlier, and the problem had not been fixed.

Raheel Ahmed, marketing general manager for Airblue, denied this and told the BBC that all aircraft in service had been listed as airworthy by the CAA.

“I have been working with Airblue for the last five years and no such incident comes to my mind. I should add that the company has the most up-to-date aircraft in Pakistan.”

Industry experts say the traffic-control protocols and navigation aids in Islamabad airport leave much to be desired also.

“Why was the plane circling at 1,600ft when the minimum for Islamabad is 3,000ft?” a local aviation told the BBC.

Meanwhile, the Airbus team is reaching Pakistan from France to investigate into flight 202 that crashed in Margalla Hills in the outskirts of Islamabad on Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, search is on to recover flight 202′s data recorder, also called the black box.

ISLAMABAD: Sources in the Civil Aviation Authorities have revealed the last conversation between the Airblue pilot and the control tower.

Sources have said that the control tower issued an initial warning when the plane was getting out of the limits of the runway. The plane was travelling at nine point five nautical miles while it had to turn at five nautical miles.

All aboard Airblue passenger plane flying from Karachi to Islamabad were killed when the plane crashed in the suburb of capital Islamabad today. At least 152 people including crew member were reportedly on board.

The following conversation reportedly took place between the control tower and the pilot:

Control tower’s first warning: You are getting away from the runway.

Pilot’s response: We can see the runway.

Control tower’s second warning: Turn to your left immediately, you are heading towards Margalla Hills.

Pilot’s response: We can see that.

This was the last reply form the pilot and then the flight lost its contact with the control tower and soon after it crashed.

CAA submits initial report

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Authorities compiled their initial investigation report into the tragic plane crash.

According to the report sent to the Defence Ministry, poor visibility and the plane flying below the given altitude were the cause of the incident.

The report also revealed that a Chinese airplane was asked to land at the Islamabad airport at the same time but the pilot did not take the risk and instead changed his course.

But, the pilot of the Airblue flight took a wrong turn and instead of going right, it moved towards the left side and ended up colliding with the Margalla Hills.

Pilot’s fatigue may be behind crash: PALPA President

President of Pakistan Air Lines Pilots Association (PALPA), Captain Sohail Baloch on Wednesday said Margalla Hills plane crash may be attributed to pilot’s fatigue.

“The pilot may be suffering from accumulated fatigue because they are not given adequate leaves,” he told a private news channel. Captain Sohail Baloch said the route was not a no-fly zone, as speculated.

The plane exceeded the safety distance due to bad weather.

He said this decision was, again, taken by the pilot who could not determine appropriate landing route and added the ISL system’s access ends a little before Islamabad and the pilot had to resort to visual queues for landing.

There could be other reasons to the crash, which will only be uncovered after completion of investigation, he added.

Airport sources said the Air Blue flight ED-202 took off at7:50 am from Karachi to Islamabad and crashed at 9:50 a.m.

(Express Tribune)

KARACHI: The captain of the Pakistani passenger jet that crashed in the hills of Islamabad on Wednesday was a top professional flying into one of the most testing airports for pilots, a colleague said.

“Islamabad airport’s location is not an easy destination to fly into,” Hashim Raza Gardezi, a former colleague of Pervez Iqbal Chaudhry who piloted the doomed Airbus A-321, told AFP.

The craggy Margalla Hills to the north of the capital and unpredictable wind patterns can make an approach extremely difficult he said, going so far as to describe Islamabad as “one of the worst weather conditions in the world”.

“Irregular wind systems surround the Margalla Hills often make it difficult for the pilots while in the air,” Gardezi, a pilot for state Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), said.

Airblue’s flight 202 from Karachi was coming into land at Benazir Bhutto International airport when witnesses saw a jet flying at unusually low altitude then heard a loud boom.

Gardezi told AFP that Chaudhry, was a true professional.

“Chaudhry was one of the finest professionals in this field… who never took unnecessary risks during his professional career.” Procedures for safe landing at Islamabad advise pilots not to descend lower than 1,000 feet (300 metres) unless they have full visibility of the runway.

Gardezi said half an hour before the crash, a PIA flight was diverted to the eastern city of Lahore owing to poor weather conditions.

“With the experience Chaudhry had, I suppose the weather had got better by then prompting him to go for landing,” he told Geo television.

Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the pilot had been in contact with the control tower at the airport until just before the crash.

“In the last conversation with the control tower, the pilot had been given landing clearance and the plane was proceeding normally for landing before it crashed into the hills,” said Riaz-ul-Haq, the authority’s deputy director.

The civil aviation authority said all possible causes would be investigated, including terrorism and bad weather, although officials gave no indication that an attack might have been to blame.

UPDATED: 2 IBA students along with six university students were on-board the Airblue flight to attend a youth parliament session, reported Abdussalam123 on Twitter.

We at Khudi are shocked and saddened to hear that 6 members of the Pakistan Youth Parliament were onboard Airblue, reported khudipk on Twitter.

ISLAMABAD: ‘Air Blue’ issued the list of names of the passengers on board the plane that crashed in capital Islamabad on Wednesday. There are no survivors, it has emerged.

The names of passengers are Pyar Ali, Imtiaz Ali Kurd, Syeed Shaan-E-Hussain Naqvi, Prem Chand, Hassan Javed Khan, Syed Arsalan Ahmed, Mohd. Tufail, Abdul Rehman, Mohd. Faisal Rasheed, Mohd. Ovais, Hussain Alam, Ghulam Abbas, Naveed Ilyas, Mohd. Ali Mughal Mohd Aftab, Shireen Lodhi, Mohd. Nawab Hassan, Asim Arain, Ali Sherazi, Mohd. Bashir, Zahid Habibi, Dr. Mirko Cvjfticanin, Asia Begum, Mohd. Umair Khan, Haji Rehmat Gul,Mohd. Saqib Rafiq Shaikh, Misha Dawood, Ali Asghar Rajab Ali, Rashida Tyeb Khan, Murtaza Tyed Khan, Malik Mohd. Yousuf, Nabeel Lutfi, Manzoor Nasir, Saleem Ahmed, Rosie Ahmed, Salauddin Syed, Hamid Javed, Mohd. Yousuf, Ata Raja, Salman Khan Bijrani, Mehran Khan Bijrani, Anwar Bibi, Gulzar Bibi, Tariq Subhan, Abdul Ghaffar, Irfan Irfan, Mohd. Sultan, Mohd. Yaseen, Gayaba Khan, Manzoor Ahmed, Masood Salam, Syed Azam, Ojam Khan, Jannat Gul, Zaintun Bibi, Waheed Ur Rehman, Mohd. Feroze, Dr. Suresh, Mohd. Asad, Amir Siddiqui, Mona Domkhi, Mehlee Domkhi, Amir Domkhi, Afshan Domkhi, Masood Kayani, Zafar Saleem, Abdul Ghani, Adnan Qayoom, Abbas Haider, Osama Ghafoor, Mohd. Zameen, Andaleeb Junaid, Abdul Raheem, Mohd. Zaid Rauf, Anwar Begum, Nusrat Begum, Ali Shah, Kamran Shah Abdul Qayum, Maqsood Ahmed, Abdul Ghaffar, Mohd. Iqbal, Khan Zaman, A M Nasir, Syeda Rabab Zehra Naqvi, Ovais Bin Laiq,Bilal Jamaee, Syed Ashiq Hussain Shah, Samatar Bashir, Amer Khattaq, Hassan Naseem, Atif Rasheed, Kaneze Akhthar, Shamsul Haq, Khadim Hussain Rehmat Khan, Mirza Tahir Baig, Mohd Irfan, Malik Ghulam Hussain, Javeria Faraz, Mohd Ajmal Khan ,Sikander Hayat Awan, Mubashir Shahid, Tariq Shahid, Mr. Kamran, Mr. Saleem, Javaid Iqbal, Pervez Akhthar, Raheem Khan Rajput, Ikhlaas Khan, Aswah Gul, Ansar Abbas, Athar Iftikhar, Haji Gul Mehboob, Farooq Khan,Syed Jawad Ali, Ayesha Amir, Aliza Amir, Abu Baqr Izhar, Sapna Munawar, Farooq Nadeem, Mohd. Asif, Hassan Adeel, Abid Mehmood, Malik Muhammad Ajmal, Owais Khan, Romaisa Khan, Muhammad Saleem, Mujahid Rehman, Aesar Ali, Tasleem Kausar, Muhammad Ibrahim, Ghulam Rasool, Mrs Shaheen, Mrs Sabira, Mrs Gulshad, Mr Rawaha, Jehangir Khan, Ali Akber, Muhammad Rafique, Syed Haider Zulfiqar Shah, Muhammad Saleem Akhtar, Rizwan Ghani Khan, Amber Rizwan, Muhammad Zawar Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Muskan Rizwan, Farid Ahmed Alvi, Shamas Us Rehman Alvi, Khizer Pervaiz, Kiran Alvi, Muhammad Khalid, Asif Shehzad, Ayesha Asif, Syed Ainullah Agha, Afazal Masood, Syed Attaullah Hashmi, Waheed Shaikh, Navaid Chaudhry.

At least 12 commuters who despite having bought the tickets, could not go on board the ill-fated plane.

These 12 passengers had reserved their seats to travel from Karachi to Islamabad; however, they could not make it to the plane on various counts.

These people include Muhammed Abid, Rizwan, Asif, Imtiaz Ali Khuro, Akhtar, Pervaiz, Khizr, Mehreen Khan Bijarani, Shaheen, Salim Ahmed, Sapna Munawwar, Sayyed Shaheen Naqvi and Saeed Salahud Din.