THIS is what happens when you allow your railways minister to control air traffic. Eyebrows were raised and there was talk of what angry steps an international airline could resort to when the aircraft carrying Dr Tahirul Qadri was diverted to Lahore from Islamabad on Monday morning. It is said the brilliant idea came from the minister Khwaja Saad Rafiq. A top-of-the-line train-stopper among Pakistan’s politicians, he apparently wanted to take his powers to altogether a new level. He did succeed in helping Islamabad avoid an unwanted guest, even if at the cost of some embarrassment to the country’s civil aviation authorities and a little chaos in his own city of Lahore. The act brought back uneasy memories of the past: confused swirling around by planes on the Pakistani horizon and the dangers of sharing airspace with prominent people. At this rate, the reformists should soon be flying all by themselves.

This is one area where there has been a lot of activity and where the country has made progress. Fifteen years ago, when Gen Pervez Musharraf’s flight was kept suspended over Karachi for many unscheduled minutes, there was one ‘hijacker’ to blame it on. Now, we have two: the indefatigable Dr Qadri and of course the government authorities who had ordered that Dr Qadri was only fit for a landing closer to home and at a distance from revolution. Also, in this latest case, those who accompanied the PAT leader or those who were plain unfortunate to have been travelling by the same flight were saved the ignominy of being roughed up by law enforcers on arrival. Those in a similar situation when Mian Nawaz Sharif attempted to return to Pakistan a few years ago were not so lucky. It is a surprise the ministers who are so eager to ridicule Dr Qadri for meekly agreeing to give up his occupation of the aircraft are not seeking to add this feather signifying civility and the maturity of the Pakistani democracy to their caps.

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2014