ISLAMABAD: Taking notice of the alleged misuse of authority by officials of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) that caused a four-hour delay of an Skardu-Islamabad flight on Tuesday, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) decided on Wednesday to investigate the matter.

According to NAB, the bureau’s chairman retired (Justice) Javed Iqbal has ordered complaint verification against officials of the CAA and the PIA who allegedly carried friends and blue-eyed people on the flight for what is being termed an “air safari”, spending millions of rupees from the exchequer.

“The NAB chief has ordered NAB’s Gilgit/Rawalpindi office to probe the matter in detail and submit a report in this regard,” says a press release of the bureau, issued by NAB headquarters.

The bureau took notice of media reports that PIA’s Skardu-bound flight took off from Islamabad airport on Tuesday morning with top CAA officials and Gilgit-Baltistan’s senior PML-N member Akbar Taban on board. Usually, when a flight takes off from Islamabad, boarding passes for the return flight are issued in Skardu.

The normal flight time between the two cities is 45 minutes. However, passengers in Skardu said that it took the aircraft four hours to reach Skardu after they had been issued boarding passes.

Accusing the PIA’s top officers of having delayed the flight to take VIP passengers from Islamabad on an “air safari” comprising K2, Nanga Parbat and other mountain peaks, the passengers complained that they were not allowed even to use washrooms in the PIA waiting room at Skardu during the flight delay, causing serious problems to them.

Passengers of the flight condemned the attitude of the PIA management for causing the long delay only to facilitate a few bigwigs and influential people.

CAA officials, however, denied the use of the aircraft for a “private tour” claiming that the “air safari” had been undertaken at the request of PIA Chief Executive Officer Musharraf Rasool Cyan. PIA spokesperson Mashood Tajwar said that the passengers were basically complaining about basic facilities provided at the airport, adding that flights to Gilgit and Skardu were subject to weather condition and this was mentioned on air tickets.

Sale of PIA aircraft

In a separate case, the NAB chairman sought a report from PIA authorities on the role of a former chief executive officer of the national flag carrier who not only took a PIA plane abroad without any legal authority, but also sold it at a through-away price to Germany.

“The PIA is our national asset and its protection is our national duty,” the chairman was quoted as saying.

The NAB chairman directed authorities concerned to identify the real culprits involved in both incidents so that they were brought to justice.

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2018