RAWALPINDI: In an effort to find a lasting solution to the dispute between the management of the national flag carrier and the Pakistan Airline Pilots’ Association (Palpa), senior officials of the aviation division went into a tense hours-long session on Thursday, but apparently failed to achieve a breakthrough.

After an intervention by a parliamentary committee, Palpa decided on Wednesday to call off its strike for two days with a condition that its concerns should be addressed during talks.

The director general of the Civil Aviation Authority, PIA chairman, secretary of the aviation division, representatives of Palpa and senior officials of the national flag carrier attended the meeting. Many issues came under discussion and both sides – Palpa and the PIA management – also reached an agreement.

Also read: Palpa announces two-day suspension to strike, flight operations resume

Talking to Dawn, Captain Amir Hashmi, president of Palpa, said: “We had been in session for the whole day to end the dispute and finally reached an agreement.”

But he appeared to be upset over what he called a strange move by the CAA director general who at the last moment refused to provide copies of the agreement and instead demanded a written apology from the protesting pilots.

“Unless you submit a written apology, you will not get the copies of the agreement,” Captain Hashmi quoted the CAA chief as saying.

The Palpa president said the “meeting was unproductive” as it “could not reach any conclusion”. “We would go to the parliamentary committee on Friday and then take a decision whether or not to go on strike again,” he said.

When contacted, CAA’s spokesman Pervez George claimed that an important item on the agenda of the meeting was that Palpa would withdraw its letter written to the CAA. The letter, he said, contained “unethical remarks about the CAA”.

“They (Palpa representatives) were asked to withdraw the letter first and then they would be provided copies of the minutes of the meeting, but they refused to withdraw the letter,” the spokesman said.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play