RAWALPINDI: A USAID official chose to leave Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) on Friday and return to his residence in Islamabad, rather than go through a physical security check to board his flight to Washington.

The official, identified as Ajit Joshi, was in Islamabad to train USAID personnel at the US embassy and was flying to Washington on a Qatar Airways flight. Mr Joshi had reached a final security check at BBIA when he refused to proceed, and instead returned to Islamabad.

The check was not for specific passengers, but is a routine security check that has been conducted at the airport for the last few months, aviation division spokesperson Sher Ali said.

When Mr Joshi saw the security check, he changed his travel plans and told the concerned officials he would not be travelling on the flight. He was allowed to leave after voluntarily offloading from the flight, since there was no security concern related to him.

In an email, US Embassy Islamabad spokesperson Christopher Snipes said: “Ajit Joshi, a Washington-based USAID employee, travelled to Islamabad on November 17 to conduct workplace training for USAID personnel at US Embassy Islamabad.”

He said Mr Joshi went to BBIA to leave Pakistan on November 27, but then changed his travel plans and returned to his temporary residence in Islamabad.

The spokesperson did not give the reason for Mr Ajit’s decision. An airport official said: “Mr Joshi willingly refused to travel as it was a self offloading.”

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2015