Dear All,
I'm a researcher/producer whose developing a project concerning the 17th August 1988 plane crash that took the life of 30 people, most notably President Zia Ul-Haq and US Ambassador Arnold Raphael.
I've been looking into the crash for nearly 20 years and have spoken to various individuals who have knowledge of the crash as well as gaining access to thousands of pages of documentation that have never been seen before.
The goal is to produce a piece of work (either as a podcast and/or a book) that would examines all the theories surrounding the cause of the crash, carefully assessing the credibility of each one.
As part of this work, I'd like to speak to people who can volunteer what they saw or heard of the crash during this period.
Part of my work has led me to look at the theories that were put forward by a now deceased PAF officer, Zaheer Zaidi, who was part of the original crash investigation team.
Another is to look at former PAF officer, Akram Awan, alleged involvement in the crash. He was convicted of spying but stories have been published claiming he had some knowledge of it. There is not much known about either officer beyond what has been published in the Pakistan press at the time and has been repeated since. Most recently in Ejaz Ul Haq's interview to Turkish media in February 2020.
I understand that this story has attracted a great deal of theories, some of it easily dismissible, and it is my intention to try and produce a piece of work that lays to rest some of the misinformation surrounding it.
Did anyone here know what happened with this and the subsequent investigations looking into the crash? Who would it be worth me reaching out to? Is there documentation you would recommend I look at?
Some background about myself, I work as a writer/producer in the UK and US. Films I helped make include the Emmy and BAFTA award winning documentary, LEAVING NEVERLAND. The BAFTA winning feature, FOUR LIONS and the critically acclaimed satire, THE DAY SHALL COME. I've also worked on documentaries looking at the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing and the Grenfell Tower fire.
If you have any questions about myself or the project, I can be reached at
faq@protonmail.com .
Sincerely,
Faisal A. Qureshi
-----------
This post was vetted by the Webmaster of the forum.