Islamabad : Nov 5 : An International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) delegation is finally coming to Pakistan on November 6 (Today) on ,5-day visit to verify the arrangements made by Pakistan to address its ‘fake ‘ pilot licenses issue. ICAO delegation was originally scheduled to visit Pakistan in August last , but it postponed the visit without any solid reason . It then conveyed to CAA officials to visit Pakistan in October last , but again it postponed the planned visit without any prior information to Islamabad . After two delays in visiting Pakistan , ICAO delegation has finally confirmed its visit to Pakistan.
ICAO had banned Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) entry into Europe , US and United Kingdom following a deceitful statement of Pakistan ‘s Civil Aviation minister , Sarwar Khan ,
In Imran Khan ‘s rule in 2019. Sarwar Khan on the direction of ex- prime minister , issued a statement on the floor of the parliament that Civil Aviation Authority (CCA) has issued fake licenses to dozens of pilots and Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) government has launched a full-scale investigations into the scam.
Sarwar Khan’s irresponsible rather intriguing statement damaged Pakistan’s aviation industry beyond repair. It invited ICAO’s ban for PIA to fly to Europe , US and UK in the first place. Sarwar Khan’s statement devastated the future of potential pilots who had completed flying hours and were anxiously waiting for exams to clear it and get licenses to join any airline in the world . ICAO ‘s action against Pakistan also invited ban on exams of new potential pilots . This ban is still in place .
One statement of the half- literate minister (Sarwar Khan) also ruined already financially weak PIA . For the last three and half years, PIA is literally grounded . Its half a dozen aeroplanes are rusting at local and some foreign countries’ maintenance workshops and it has no money to pay and no route to fly aeroplanes and earn revenue to pay maintenance dues.
A senior CAA official told NEWSMAN that ICAO will physically verify the report submitted by CAA to address the licenses issue and measures taken to meet international standards to ensure safety of the passengers . “We expect a good outcome of ICAO’s visit and removal of ban on PIA by it forthwith to again fly to Europe , US and UK”, the official said.
