March 3 â CF-CUN, a de Havilland DH-106 Comet 1A of CPAL named Empress of Hawaii, crashed during takeoff from Karachi's Mauripur RAF Station during its delivery flight at 03:35 at 30 m (98 feet) elevation, killing all 11 occupants. The plane was headed to Singapore's Seletar Airport to be flown to Sydney for an inaugural flight to Honolulu on April 28. The crash was found to have been caused by the pilot, who had little experience with the Comet, taking off at night without obeying prescribed takeoff technique.
Martial law was imposed in Lahore to control the sectarian riots against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. This was the first sectarian rioting in the country and the Pakistan Army was called for the first time to control a civil strife.