Zia's death in plane crash was an act of sabotage, not technical error

Islamabad, Apr 25 : Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Technical Investigator Naseem Ahmad has claimed that the country's former president Ziaul Haq's death in 1988 in a plane crash was "an act of sabotage and was not caused by any technical fault".

"It was not a technical problem," the Daily Times quoted him as saying in reply to a question at 'Media Training Workshop on Aircraft Accidents Investigations', last evening.

On the occasion, he claimed that around 82 percent aircraft accidents occurred because of human error and not technical problems.

Naseem said that aircraft have no upper life limit because individual air-worthiness determined a plane's suitability for flight. He said that most parts of aircraft could be replaced with new ones.

To a question he said that Pakistan had grounded 'Fokker' aircraft because of the government's policy decision and not due to their age.

ANI