Airblue tragedy, a year on

A year on, the Margallas rock face, burnt under the crashed Airblue flight ED-202, is green and fresh - but not as fresh as the wounds of scores of families who lost their loved ones in that grim tragedy. A number of them turned up at the Damman-i-Koh, a picnic spot in the foothills of the Margallas, in the shadow of a 'memorial wall' on Thursday afternoon, and cried.
They complained that the company had not kept its promise to build graves for the victims, and also that the spot the plane crashed on that wet, foggy morning of July 28 last year killing all 152 on board cannot be seen from where the wall stands.
No doubt, the Capital city is too young to have so many memorial sites built over the last few years in memory of the victims who fell to terrorism, but the pain and grief caused by site of the crash in the lap of the lush Margallas is simply overwhelming; its intensity augmented by the fact that even after a full one year, the affected families have yet to learn what caused the crash and who was responsible for it. Then, there is also the question of the compensation paid in some cases that appears to be not only stingy but also being made very grudgingly.
The memory is still very fresh in many a mind when the residents of that area found the Airblue Airbus flying too low over the Seventh Avenue, as if it was going to land there. Then they saw the plane taking a short left turn with its wings almost vertical, and the next moment there was the thud and smoke was seen rising from the steep side of the mountain just opposite the first bend on the road to Damman-i-Koh. As expected, the debate as to what caused the crash instantly erupted over the national media.
Among the causes cited, the most popular were that (1) the pilot failed to see where he was heading; (2) being within visual distance of the airport control tower the plane was beyond the control of the flight-control tower; and (3) the plane had inadvertently entered into the no-fly space over the Red Zone in the Capital.
Many years ago, a foreign airliner miraculously escaped disaster as its pilot was about to land that misty winter night on the Islamabad Highway, thinking it was the runway. Given he was still many miles short of the Margallas, he could lift up the plane, but the Airblue pilot probably could not, being only half a mile away from the mountain.
But what the report prepared by our Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has to say in this respect we don't know. All what we have by now is an 'interim report', a kind of filler to appease the rising crescendo of public criticism over the inordinate delay in telling the people what caused the tragedy - the excuse being that the full report can be made public only after receiving comments of the Airbus manufacturers.
Such a position appears to be in conflict with Civil Aviation Rules 1994, which allow the local civil outfits to make public its report as soon as possible. Accepted no manufacturer or an airline company would like to see its plane getting crashed, but if it has, then the chief concern should be the victims' families.
On the face of it, this aspect of the Airblue crash tragedy has been overlooked. All these months, the victims' families have been running from pillar to post, but to of no avail, leaving them with no choice but to seek justice through the courts. Presently, the cases of compensation are being heard in two high courts, one of it filed by the widow of a German victim.
The impression is gaining ground that the government - some say in connivance with the airline company - is sitting on the report. This is unacceptable. In this case, the government owes it to the people in general and the victims' families in particular that the report should be made public without further loss of time.
It is understandable that given the heavy compensation the responsible will have to pay, there may be pressure on the concerned officials. But the government must see to it that mere legalistic interpretations of civil aviation rules and regulations, as seems to be the case in the Airblue crash probe, do not permit inordinate delay in making public the real story of the crash.
The government must stand by the side of the victims' families and make public, the CAA report in full, as such an action will not only ensure early payment of compensation, but also help lessen the pain and agony of the bereaved families. After all, who would not like to know how and why he lost his dear one - this is just human.