SC rejects plea against mobile towers around KHI airport

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal against the installation of mobile towers around the airport in Karachi, saying that aviation and other authorities concerned said that those towers were built in accordance with international aviation standards.
A three-member bench, comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Aqeel Abbasi heard the appeal. According to the observations of the responsible parties, the bench said that there was no danger to the planes taking off from the airport.
The petitioner Muhammad Aslam Khan Advocate had argued that some time ago, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane had crashed into a residential area, in which around 100 people died. The court said in remarks that the accident on the Flight PK-8303 was not due to the population.
During the hearing, Justice Mazhar remarked that the house which was hit by the plane was not so high. He said that planes fly daily and the aviation authorities had no problem, so why someone else had the problem with it.
Justice Abbasi remarked that entire population around the airport could not be evacuated. Justice Rizvi said in his remarks that if any accident happened in the future, the responsibility would lie with the authorities who were currently saying that the towers did not pose any problem for the planes.

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