Pilots call off strike; PIA chief skips talks

Published October 10, 2015
.—Reuters/File
.—Reuters/File

ISLAMABAD: Although none of its main demands was accepted, the Pakistan Airline Pilots’ Association (Palpa) called off its strike on Friday and offered an apology for inconvenience caused to passengers.

The pilots had earlier suspended their strike for two days.

The decision to end the strike was taken at a meeting of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat, chaired by Senator Talha Mehmood.

Take a look: Dispute between PIA and pilots persists

When the meeting started, the entire committee, along with Palpa office-bearers, walked out, in protest against the absence of Pakistan International Airlines’ Chairman Nasser Jaffer or his representative.

Although an agreement between the PIA and Palpa could not be signed, some decisions were taken in principle.

But practically no key demand of the association was accepted as Aviation Secretary Muhammad Ali Gardezi appeared to be in no mood to do so.

He reminded Palpa that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was their regulator and they could not dictate their terms to it or use derogatory remarks against it.

The meeting was informed that PIA’s only demand was withdrawal of two damaging emails sent by pilot Capt Omer Nazir to the International Federation of Airline Pilots’ Associations (Ifalpa), which, according to the secretary, could have serious repercussions.


Senate committee to meet soon in Karachi to resolve outstanding issues


The Palpa office-bearers said the emails had been retracted and submitted a written apology to the CAA director general, stating that the choice of words was inappropriate.

According to sources, in one of the emails relating to the issue of 21 pilots reporting sick at the same time, it had been alleged that a medical board had been constituted to penalise the pilots. It also alleged that the pilots’ action had been engineered by the government with a view to paving way for selling the national flag-carrier to Middle Eastern airlines. It sought Ifalpa’s help in highlighting these ‘gross violations’ before the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Senator Mehmood, who in the previous meeting had warned against invoking the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (Popa) or any other anti-terrorism law against pilots, shared a letter written to him by the Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Aviation Shujaat Azim.

Mr Azim, while inviting Senator Mehmood’s attention to his remarks about the use of Popa, asked if the damaging email did not fall within the purview of the law.

He said he had sent the letter to the law ministry for legal opinion and had been told that the law could not be used in the case.

He instructed the relevant authorities that the Palpa apology should not be used for any other purpose.

He said the committee was an extension of parliament and victimisation on the basis of ego would not be tolerated by parliament. “If somebody slaps someone he cannot be convicted of murder,” he remarked.

On the demand for restoration of licences of two pilots suspended for one and two years for exceeding the permissible flight time limit, it was decided that an appeal would be filed with the aviation division and a decision taken within 15 days. The Senate committee summoned details of such violations by others who had not been punished.

It also called for resolving within a week the issue of issuing a show-cause notice to Capt Sohail Baloch over his statement against obtaining planes on wet lease.

Palpa withdrew its demand for replacement of the flight operations director who will complete his term in December. The PIA chairman had held out assurances during recent meetings to help bridge trust deficit.

Palpa pointed out that the director had been on leave prior to retirement since March and under the law he could not work for more than three months from that time. The committee sought a report from the aviation division on the legal status of the director and observed that he should be sent home if he was working in violation of laws.

A decision about the appointment of a special assistant to the PIA chairman, superseding the DFO to serve as a bridge between the pilots and the management, was deferred after the secretary said he would need to discuss the matter with the airline’s chief who was not available at the time.

Three demands of the pilots were deemed out of the scope of PIA.

It was decided that the issue of waiver of federal excise duty on tickets for pilots would be taken up by the Senate’s finance committee.

Palpa’s objection to the aviation policy was rejected by the secretary who said it had been approved by the Economic Coordination Committee and launched by the prime minister and hence could not be changed.

The concern of Palpa over hiring of pilots after superannuation was also addressed.

Senator Mehmood said the committee would soon meet in Karachi to resolve the remaining irritants.

Published in Dawn, October 10th , 2015

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