KARACHI, June 12: Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has said that Pakistan is an ally in the “war on terror” and it is not possible that the country would be harmed.

“If we have to live with the world, we have to fight against terrorism,” he said while talking to newsmen after getting a briefing about the functioning and performance of the Civil Aviation Authority at the CAA headquarters here on Thursday.

He said: “The United States is fighting against Al-Qaeda and we have no sympathy with Al-Qaeda,”

He told a questioner that if Pakistan had the capability, it would certainly respond to the attacks launched from across the border.

He pointed out that Pakistan was a partner in the war against terrorism and, said: “It does not suit the US to attack its own ally.”

He informed the newsmen that in the recent attack in Mohmand Agency, 11 Pakistanis were martyred and another nine seriously wounded

In reply to a question, he said there was no plan to divide the Civil Aviation Authority.

Earlier, during his visit to the CAA headquarter, the defence minister and reviewed performance of the institution.

Director-General of the CAA Farooq Rehmatullah gave him a special briefing and highlighted the institution’s recent contributions towards the aviation sector.

Mr Rehmatullah told the minister that the CAA aimed to promote aviation sector in the country by allowing market forces to determine the price, quality, frequency and range of air services options in Pakistan.

Highlighting the organisation’s commitment to keeping pace with global aviation benchmarks, he said that the CAA, at present, was operating in strict compliance of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s standards of safety, security and regularity.

He said that the revenue earned by the CAA during the fiscal 2006-2007 had witnessed a substantial increase of over 30 per cent with a profit margin of Rs6.3 billion as compared to the last year’s revenue of Rs4.8 billion.

He said that the CAA aimed to increase its present contribution to the nation’s GDP from about 0.1 per cent to 1 per cent over a period of five years for which a business plan had been developed for the first time in the history of the CAA.

Mr Rehmatullah informed the minister that the Authority envisaged tremendous rise in revenues from Rs11.626 billion in 2007 to Rs30.83 billion in 2012 effecting an increase of 165 per cent, besides an increase in the air traffic from 17 million to 33 million passengers per annum — an increase of 94 per cent.

Speaking about the CAA’s upcoming projects, he said that the Authority was at present working on developing passenger and cargo trans-shipment hubs to support and facilitate the objectives of the National Transport Master Plan (NTMP) and the National Trade Corridor (NTC).

During the briefing, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar was also apprised of the CAA’s commercial development projects which included the new Islamabad international airport, airport cities to be set up in Karachi and Lahore, and creation of cargo complexes, hotels, shopping malls and attractive retail propositions.

The defence minister appreciated the CAA initiatives and welcomed the new aviation policy which, he noted, was aimed at ensuring a level-playing field in the aviation sector.

He appreciated the shopping techniques recently adopted by the CAA to monitor the performance and facilities at Pakistani airports, and lauded the institution’s commercial plans.

He congratulated the CAA director-general for achieving a record increase in profits and a 97 per cent increase in air traffic. The minister also appreciated the plans for the upgrading of the CAA radar systems, and expressed the hope that they would help Pakistan adopt a more futuristic and vision-oriented approach on aviation sector in the years to come.—APP