Mon, Mar 10, 2003
New Pilot Took Over Just Before Flight
In a new twist to the probe into the recent
aircrash in Pakistan which killed the Air Chief and top Pakistan
Air Force (PAF) officers, it has now been learned that the pilot
was changed at the last moment and villagers near the crash site
had heard gunshots and found a Kalashnikov and bullets nearby,
diplomatic sources said over the weekend.
The Inquiry Committee, headed by Air Vice Marshal Khalid Chowdhury,
has found that the pilot of the ill-fated plane was changed barely
20-25 minutes before take-off, they said.
You Just Don't Do That
The panel has also interrogated the pilot originally slated to
fly the military leaders and their families, adding it is never a
practice even in civilian aircraft to change the captain at the
very last moment.
The crash in the Kohat area claimed 17 lives including that of
Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir (above, seated
on left), his wife and two Deputy Chiefs of Air Staff, Air Vice
Marshal Abdul Razzaq and Air Vice Marshal Saleem A Nawaz.
The sources said Mir, who was handpicked by Gen
Pervez Musharraf after superceding at least six PAF officers, had
lately developed differences with the Pakistan President over the
granting of airbase and facilities to FBI in connection with the
raids being conducted against al Qaeda-Taliban remnants in North
West Frontier Province.
The Inquiry Committee, which is still continuing its probe, has
not ruled out sabotage as the aircraft was declared fit just before
it took off.
Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said he suspected
sabotage and asked why so many senior officers were accompanying
the Air Chief in the same aircraft.
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