ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet meeting, chaired by the prime minister, Imran Khan, on September 15,2020, approved cancellation of another 22 licenses of pilots issued against fake exams.
The approval of cancellation of new 22 licenses is in addition to dozens of pilots already dismissed from P;IA on the basis of fake licenses.
The suspected PIA pilots whose licenses are deemed cancelled after federal cabinet’s nod included Mian Khalid Mahmood Hasrat, Shaukat Mahmood, Saifur Rehman Burki, Mohmmad Faisal Mirza, Hasan Iqbal, Baset Rehman, Aiqab Moeed Khan, Mohammad Ammar, Zaryab Bashir Cheema, Mohammad Bilal Chugtai, Shahid Saeed, Umar Salim, Mohammad Zubair, Asif Ali Malik, Shair Afghan Jogezai, Omar Farasat, Mohammad Anis Ayub, Mohammad Fahad Bin Zameer Raja, Raja Hashim Khan, Anjum Liaqat, Mohammad Naveed Khokhar and Syed Khurrum Ali.
The issue of fake licenses had unearthed at Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2018, during hearing of suspension of a few CAA employees that led to direction to CAA of the apex court of conducting detailed inquiry into the issue and taking administrative and criminal action against those who are directly and indirectly involved in the case of fake licenses.
The federal cabinet also vowed to purge other institutions from such fake stuff. It also showed commitment to continue with purgatory process of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and its Civil Aviation Division (CAA).
The government had initiated inquiry into case of CAA for issuing fake licenses to some of PIA pilots. This had led to imposing of ban on PIA by Europe and US that occurred loss of billions of rupee to the national flag carrier.
It had invited bitter criticism from the opposition and many other segment of the society. The critics argued that the PTI government’s mishandling caused financial loss to the national flag carrier, besides bringing bad repute to Pakistan.
However, the government remained firm on its policy of weeding out of suspected pilots from PIA and finally it has started to earn respite for Pakistan as majority of licenses issued by CAA have been verified and accepted as original. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has also cleared PIA for international travelling after thorough inspection of all its departments like passengers handling, engineering department and safety department . Hopefully, IATA’s clearance will help PIA resume its flight operation to Europe and US in very near future.