What was supposed to be a flight
carrying happy holidayers to their destination turned into a tragedy of
heartbreaking proportions. Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 plummeted to the
ground on Thursday, crashing 40 miles east of the Ukrainian town of Donetsk,
killing all 298 people on board. It is here many of them still lay strewn on
the smouldering fields in the large area over which the plane crashed — a
mangled wreckage that has given rise to disputes.
There have been some mad
speculations and hurried conclusions over the downing of the flight, all of
them without any concrete evidence. In the early moments after the plane went
down, it was being reported that it had been shot down. Almost immediately
attention turned to the fact that the plane was flying over a conflict zone,
where pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine have been waging an insurgency against
the government in Kiev that they regard as illegitimate and oppressive. In next
to no time, the western media started pointing the finger of blame at Russian
President Vladimir Putin, no doubt after prodding from Kiev, where President
Petro Poroshenko has had it in for the Russian premier since Putin’s annexation
of Crimea in March.
Now the cacophony from all the western media is rising in a
loud crescendo of how it was Russian-backed, pro-separatist militants who fired
at the plane with sophisticated weaponry supplied to them by Russia. We have
even heard President Obama and others in Washington echo these accusations, who
are all warning Russia about the consequences.
Wait a minute — it has not even
been 72 hours since the tragedy occurred and no official investigation has been
launched yet. Whilst media reports are alleging that the plane’s black box has
been retrieved by the separatists, no one knows for sure. The area where the
plane crashed is conflict-afflicted territory and no proper investigative teams
have so far made it in to uncover fully what really happened. Sketchy media
reports making the rounds on how somebody called “Major” shot down the plane
and then boasted about it on social media have not been independently verified.
How can the whole western world, the media included, just jump the gun like
that? One must also question why the aviation industry allows its commercial
jetliners to fly over conflict zones where anything can happen, as this latest
incident has so horribly illustrated.
What happened is an undeniable
tragedy with entire families and the loved ones of many wiped out within
seconds, but that does not mean that retribution must be exacted where it is
politically convenient. It is well known the dislike Kiev has for Putin and the
current tense relations between Moscow and Washington. This tragedy must not
serve as a means to play out that rivalry.
What must be carried out is a complete
official investigation as recommended by the UN Security Council, Russia
included. The victims of this horrific ordeal deserve nothing less than the
truth. If someone did shoot down that plane, the whole force of the law and
justice system must come down on the perpetrators.
However, it is not correct
to point fingers before the true facts are established. Malaysia Airlines is
going to find it impossible to come out of this episode after another one of
its planes went ‘missing’ in March this year, with nobody truly knowing even
now what became of it and its passengers. There are many victims of this
devastation at 33, 000 feet; it is prayed that their souls find peace and
justice.
International outrage has been
building over the way bodies were being left to rot in the sun amid claims
official observers were not being allowed to access the site, and that evidence
had been tampered with by rebels in control of the site.
Ukraine's emergency officials said
today that 196 bodies have been recovered in an operation involving nearly 300
volunteers and rebels.
Ukraine and the separatists accuse
each other of firing a surface-to-air missile at Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on
Thursday as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur some 33,000ft above the
battlefields of eastern Ukraine. Both deny the charge.
The US has pointed blame at the
separatists, saying Washington believes the jet was probably downed by an SA-11
missile from rebel-held territory and 'we cannot rule out technical assistance
from Russian personnel'.
The latest US intelligence
assessment suggests that more than one missile system was given to the
separatists by the Russians in the last week or so. But both Russia and the
rebels vehemently deny any role in downing the plane.
Despite calls by world leaders for
an independent, international investigation into the incident,
armed separatists limited
observers' access to the crash site on Friday and Saturday.
'We have to be very careful,' said
a spokesman for the 24 international monitors. We are unarmed civilians so we
are not in a position to argue with people with heavy arms.'
‘We encountered armed personnel who
acted in a very impolite and unprofessional manner. Some of them even looked
slightly intoxicated,’ a spokesman said.
'Some of the body bags are open and
the damage to the corpses is very, very bad. It is very difficult to look at.'
Courtesy AGENCIES & DAILY TIMES
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