ISLAMABAD: The government will present the inquiry report of last week’s plane crash before a parliamentary session on June 22, said the country’s aviation minister, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, on Thursday while requesting the media and the public not to speculate about the causes of the accident.
“This will be a provisional inquiry report based on free and fair investigation [into the incident]. Nobody should have any confusion about it,” the minister said while promising to release all the inquiry reports of the past 11 plane crashes as well
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane carrying 99 people including crew members crashed into a residential area near the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi last Friday, resulting in 97 casualties. Two passengers miraculously survived the incident.
“It is my commitment to the nation that all information [related to the plane crash] will be shared with the public in the minimum possible time,” the minister said while announcing to lay the inquiry report in an upcoming parliamentary session on June 22.
Pakistan has a checkered history of aviation safety record that includes a number of air crashes. The country has witnessed 12 plane crashes including the recent one since 1947, out of which 10 involved PIA flights. The other two planes belonged to Air Blue and Bhoja Air.
The minister said that an independent inquiry board was looking into all aspects of the recent crash while an 11-member French team of experts had also collected evidence from the site of the incident to ascertain the causes of the accident.
“Why did this accident happen, how it happened and who is responsible for it, the whole nation is concerned about it,” the minister said, adding that all inquiry reports, including those focusing on past accidents, would not only be made public but also used to take action against all those who were found guilty of negligence.
He said that voice and data records had been found, and the French investigators would take them back to their country to decode them. “There are technical questions that you or I cannot answer. So, we will wait for experts to tell us,” he said.
“Whoever is held responsible [for the accident] will face dire consequences,” the minister said.
He also revealed that the pilot of the ill-fated plane tried to make belly-landing three times without announcing that its landing gears were not extending.
“It is a million-dollar question that he [the pilot] touched the runway three times, but then again lifted the plane up in the air,” he said, adding that the inquiry team would try to answer all the queries.
Out of 97 bodies, 51 have been handed over to their families after identification with the help of DNA tests while the identification process for the remaining bodies is still underway. “We are trying our best to hand over the bodies to their families as soon as possible,” the minister said.
He added that the government teams were surveying the damaged property and vehicles on the crash site to compensate the residents of Model Colony where the plane crashed.
“At least 15 homes are completely destroyed …. We will fully compensate their owners,” he added.
Plane crash inquiry report to be made public on June 22 – aviation minister
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Plane crash inquiry report to be made public on June 22 – aviation minister
- Ghulam Sarwar Khan revealed the pilot of the ill-fated plane made three botched attempts to make belly-landing
- Out of 97 plane crash victims, bodies of 51 have been identified with the help of DNA tests
Pakistan says $50 million meat export deal with Tajikistan nearing finalization
- Islamabad expects to finalize agreement soon after Dushanbe signals demand for 100,000 tons
- Pakistan is seeking to expand agricultural trade beyond rice, citrus and mango exports
ISLAMABAD: Tajikistan has expressed interest in importing 100,000 tons of Pakistani meat worth more than $50 million, with both governments expected to finalize a supply agreement soon, Pakistan’s food security ministry said on Tuesday.
Pakistan is trying to grow agriculture-based exports as it seeks regional markets for livestock and food commodities, while Tajikistan, a landlocked Central Asian state, has been expanding food imports to support domestic demand. Pakistan currently exports rice, citrus and mangoes to Dushanbe, though volumes remain small compared to national production, according to official figures.
The development came during a meeting in Islamabad between Pakistan’s Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain and Ambassador of Tajikistan Yusuf Sharifzoda, where agricultural trade, livestock supply and food-security cooperation were discussed.
“Tajikistan intends to purchase 100,000 tons of meat from Pakistan, an import valued at over USD 50 million,” the ambassador said, according to the ministry’s statement, assuring full facilitation and that Islamabad was prepared to meet the demand.
The statement said the two sides agreed to expand cooperation in meat and livestock, fresh fruit, vegetables, staple crops, agricultural research, pest management and standards compliance. Pakistan also proposed strengthening coordination on phytosanitary rules and establishing pest-free production zones to support long-term exports.
Pakistan and Tajikistan have long maintained political ties but bilateral food trade remains below potential: Pakistan produces 1.8 million tons of mangoes annually but exported just 0.7 metric tons to Tajikistan in 2024, while rice exports amounted to only 240 metric tons in 2022 out of national output of 9.3 million tons. Pakistan imports mainly ginned cotton from Tajikistan.
