ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in the Senate Senator Sherry Rehman said the European Union's decision to retain its ban on the PIA operations in its member countries is another blow to our national airline, and is a clear vote of no confidence in two years of the "gross mismanagement and neglect" by the PTI government.
"It is rather shocking that despite the previous suspension, conditions laid down in ART 205(c)(2) of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) regulations were not met by CAA and it appears that now the only way this ban can be lifted is by the Pakistani aviation regulatory body clearing a new safety audit. What is questionable is the government inaction and flat refusal to take responsibility for landing an already troubled airline in such international disgrace. Nobody takes responsibility for this combination of criminal negligence and indifference to the squandering of our national assets," she said.
She said in a statement on Saturday that it was not only the EASA but the US and the UK authorities who had also banned the PIA.
She said the national airline was facing a loss of millions along in addition to being "disgraced internationally".
"The PIA is still flying domestically, and questions will be asked about what it is doing to guarantee the safety of and lives of domestic passengers who have little option but to fly PIA," she said.
Talking about the fake license issue, the senator said, "The aviation minister had claimed that there were 262 fake licences but recently the secretary aviation told IHC that only 28 licences were fraudulent. Why then was the airline made to crash by its own minister? Why are Pakistani pilots paying the price all over the world with having their license brought under a cloud of suspicion, while they lose their jobs and credibility in other airlines? We are still facing the aftermath of such reckless statements, but no one is made answerable... In any other government, many heads would have rolled, but here, there is total indifference to public safety, parliamentary caution or moral obligation to be answerable to the people".
She said it seems that the PTI thinks politics is only about maintaining a daily narrative of abuse against the opposition, and not to serve even notionally, the people of Pakistan, who have not been allowed to hold anyone accountable for the dismantling of not just their national airline but hundreds and thousands of jobs and reputations.
Meanwhile Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP-P) Secretary Information Dr Nafisa Shah said the entire nation had united against the "selected" government and the "puppet" prime minister, Imran Khan, and will send this "selected and puppet" government home.
In a statement, Dr Shah said that the nation also wants to carry out accountability of the "selected" Prime Minister Imran Khan who has been "benefitting his cronies and ATMs" at the cost of the national exchequer.
She alleged that there are so many mega-corruption scandals of the PTI government. Imran Khan through his minister vilified the national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines, so that he can distribute the PIA assets among his cronies and ATMs.
This was the very reason to make PIA disputed, she alleged. Dr Nafisa Shah said that Imran Khan has also sacked the Pakistan Steel Mills' employees with the similar intention of "usurping" PSM and its assets. She alleged that 122 billion rupees from the LNG scandal was also distributed among Imran Khan's cronies and ATMs.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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