Asad Ali
January 8 was a sad day in the human history when 176 passengers lost their lives in plane crashed in Iran. They were from different nationalities mainly Iranians, Canadians and Ukrainians.The jet was operated by Ukraine International Airlinesand it was shot down by Iran armed forces just after the take-off from Tehran. The Canada and United States put the blame on Iran with the help of their intelligence reports. Initially, they refused the allegations by saying it is the Western “psychological warfare” against Iran. But on Saturday, Iran admits that they shot down the Ukrainian passenger plane ‘unintentionally’. In a statement, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the country “deeply regrets this disastrous mistake. My thoughts and prayers go to all the mourning families. I offer my sincerest condolences.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expected a complete investigation, full confession and compensation from Iran after shooting down a Ukrainian passenger plane.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said that “human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to the disaster.”
This was not the first incident of civilian plane crashed in recent history. There are several prominent passenger’s jets shot down by Armed Forces, whetherintentionally or accidentally. On July 17, 2014 the Malaysian Airline (MH17) was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was hit by missile in eastern Ukraine. All the 298 people including crew members got killed. Russian and Ukrainian both blamed each other for shooting the passenger plane. On July 3, 1988 the United States Navy shot down the Iranian Airbus A300 by missile, which was flying over Strait of Hormuz. The 290 passengers were killed, all of them were Iranians. The United States paid101.8 million US dollars as compensation to the victim families after the settlement between US and Iran at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
According to experts, in high conflict or tension zones most of the states declares their territory as ‘No Fly Zone’ but in the caseof US and Iran there was no high chances of war and Iran launched missile attack on US Airbase in Iraq, from where the rocket was fired on General Qassem Soleimani. As in the case of Pakistan and India, Pakistan closed its Airspace and suspended the flight operation on some major Airports of country in February 2019. The decision was taken to ensure the safety of human lives. In 2017, the Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt have closed their Airspace to Qatar Airways and Qatari-owned airlines on the bases of political differences with Qatar. These decisions forced India and Qatar to reroute their flights for other countries respectively. Which has caused the immense financial loses to the Airlines.
On one side it’s a good sign that Iran accepted their mistake, before give rise to suspicion. Because if later it would have been proven that it was the Iran’s fault then it will have bad effects on Iran. So, the Iran’s decision to admit their mistake will also provide face saving.But on other side this blunder will cause the immense loss to Iran. Firstly, they will lose the sympathies and moral support which they have gained from all-around the world, after the assassination of their most powerful General Soleimani. Secondly, Iran will pay compensation to the families of victims of crashed plane and, they have to pay the price of plane to Ukraine. So, in the bad economic conditions and sanctions by US, this will add more burden on Iran. US also put more economic embargo against Tehran. This incident is a lesson for other nations to make all the necessary arrangements to safeguard the civilian’s planes and precious human lives while they are flying over the high tension or conflict zones.
