Eerie links between Harry Potter, bin Laden Page 16>> Rsi500 val 3092 Paes Kaci tin Palestinian leaders end four-year feud Barcelona through to final after draw Page 28>> mad. Thrsay 5 Moy, 207 US court chucks Airblue plane crash case SExpert says case for victims’ compensation should have filed in Pakistani courts KARACHI WAGAR HAMZA A district court in the State of the Ili- nois, United States, has dismissed a case filed against the Airblue by fami- lies of US citizens who lost their lives in a plane crash last July near Islamabad, sources informed Pakistan Today on Wednesday. “The families had filed a case against the Airblue seeking compensation, but the Corporation, International Lease Fi- nance Corporation (ILFC), GE Aviation ‘Systems, Zapways Inc. and Limited Lia- bility (LLC). Reliable sources informed that Chaudry is an American. national and lives in ‘The families had not filed any case in Pakistan. Sit ‘the cases filed by the Pakistani vietim families in the Sindh and Peshawar high courts were only for making the investigation re- ports public nd not forthe compensa + tion, sources said. Shah Murad, Advocate of Sindh Court, while giving an expert ‘opinion in this regard, said that the vic- ‘tims should have filed a case for com- pensation in Pakistani courts as it is their legal right, whatever might be the cause of the accident. When asked about the compensa- tion procedure, he said that Pakistan was the signatory to the Montréal Con- ‘Published by Arif Nizam for Nawa Media Corporation (Pv) Lid at Plot No 79, Secor 24, Korangi Industrial Area Karachi vention, 1999, and that Convention al- lows the system of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) as method of compensat- ing the passengers. It is to be noted that the Special Diag (308s) in international reserve asset, created by ie ee supplement its member countries’ reserves. Its value is based on a basket of four key in- ternational currencies (euro, Japanese yen, pound sterling, and US dolar). ‘Thus, on April 29 one SDR was equal to Rs 137.228, and based on this conver- sation rate 113,100 SDR will be equiva- lent to Rs 15,520,487, he said, adding that, contrary to this, Airblue offered nly Rs 5, 550,000 (Pak rupees five mil- ion and five hundred thousand rupees only) as compensation to each victim's legal heirs which is 64.24 percent less than amount payable under the provi- sions of Montréal Convention, 1999. ‘The representative of the Airblue Crash Affectees (ACAG) Junaid Hamid said that the families that had filed the case in US court perhaps had the perception that in Pakistan they ‘might not get any attorney with expert- ise in aviation cases. It is pertinent to ‘mention that the respondents in the said case including Airbus Industries (US), Hamilton Sund strand Corporation and Honeywell ternational, are the companies providing equipment to the Airblue ‘while ILFC is the leasing agency and the GE Aviation Systems provides software to theairline. The Zapways Inc. does the online reservations for Airblue; and LLC provides limited liability. Sal 2