More dramatic scenes were said to be witnessed on the tarmac where protesters repeatedly tried to stop a plane from taking off by lying in front of its wheels. -File Photo

RAWALPINDI: The Rangers had to be called to the Benazir Bhutto International Airport on Tuesday after the employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) continued their violent protest against the airline management’s decision to hand over air routes to Turkish Airlines. This step was taken after riot police failed to control the mayhem at the airport. Earlier in the morning, heavy contingents of riot police were called in to assist the Airport Security Force (ASF) because protesters had turned up at the airport and stopped the workers from operating flights. Later in the evening the Rangers were called in to control the situation; they finally managed to push the protesters out of the airport premises, allowing the administration to control the situation somewhat.

In the meantime, however, the airport presented a chaotic scene which a visitor may have mistaken as the stirrings of an unrest that could spiral into a political movement ala Egypt. The protesters arrived in the morning, some of whom were carrying batons and sticks. They gathered at the airport’s veranda and forced the PIA employees to stop working.

Angry protesters scuffled with passengers as well as airport staff. They deflated tyres of passenger buses ferrying between aircraft and passenger lounges and even refused to drive the stair vans around; in fact their refusal to place the stairs with two aircraft meant that hundreds of passengers on board two PIA flights — PK-300 arriving from Karachi and PK-356 from Lahore — could not disembark till much later.

More dramatic scenes were said to be witnessed on the tarmac where protesters repeatedly tried to stop a plane from taking off by lying in front of its wheels. The charged protesters shouted slogans against the management and also smashed some windows at the apron; however nobody was reported injured or hurt.

Similar scenes were witnessed at other airports though the situation in Islamabad was deemed the most violent.

Some PIA staffers were injured at the Karachi airport and were shifted to hospital, said Sohail Baloch, convener of the protesting employees. He said that outsiders had been called in by certain politicians to disturb the PIA employees’ peaceful protest against PIA Managing Director Aijaz Haroon.

As a result, at Islamabad at least 18 flights were disrupted and hundreds of passengers, particularly those travelling abroad, were inconvenienced. As the disrupted flights included international ones, those who were to travel abroad and hence concerned about visas and ticket expiry dates were particularly worried. Their requests and complaints added to the headache of the airport administration.

Muhammad Saddique, one of the passengers travelling to Dubai, arrived at the airport at around 9 am from Murree. “My flight for Dubai was scheduled for 1 pm but I don’t know when the flight will depart. My ticket is valid for today and by tomorrow it will expire,” he told Dawn.

Another passenger gave his name as Mushtaq and said that he had not eaten anything since the morning. The agitated passenger said, “Neither we are being informed about the flight departure time, nor we are being offered water and food.”

At one time, the management tried to call the PIA traffic staff members who had been on leave on Tuesday from their homes but their efforts proved unproductive as the latter did not respond.

As the unrest at the airport started, the ASF and the riot police were alerted to cope with any untoward situation. Later in the evening the Rangers were called in to assist the ASF and police.

Telltale signs of an unusual day for the airport were visible everywhere. The electronic boards installed outside the domestic and international departure lounges mostly carried the word “cancelled” in front of most flights. By the evening, one flight PK-309 to Karachi was opened for “check-in”. However, as passengers queued up to check into the flight, the protesting employees stopped them. The flight did not take off.

The PIA’s reservation kiosk (counter) was also closed and its lights were switched off.

The local airlines continued according to their usual schedules as did the international ones.

The situation is expected to worsen on Wednesday as many of the cockpit crew as well as cabin crew had already called in sick. This will compel the airline to depend on senior pilots hired on contract basis or the management pilots.

PIA spokesperson Mashood Tajawar confirmed that cockpit and cabin crew had called in sick. He could not give the exact number, but said that 15 people at each station – Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad – called in sick.

The protest call was given by the joint action committee of Pakistan International Airlines employees who had threatened to disrupt all flights to protest the management’s decision to hand over some international routes to Turkish Airlines.

A joint action committee of PIA employees had given a deadline of Monday-Tuesday night to the authorities to sack Managing Director Aijaz Haroon and cancel the proposed commercial arrangement between the national flag-carrier and Turkish Airline. But the ministry of defence did not respond positively to their demand and protests took place at the country’s airports.The situation was exacerbated by the events of Monday when eight PIA pilots refused to perform duties. This prompted the management to take stern departmental action in the shape of sacking them from job under the Essential Services Act.

Sohail Baloch, convener and the Pakistan International Airline’s Pilot Association (PALPA) president and one of the sacked pilots, said that criticism and protest against the anti-PIA policy was not a violation of the Essential Services Act. He said such notices are only served when the employee violated the terms of his service.

Mr Baloch said that employees were not willing to negotiate with Mr Haroon although they were willing to talk to the federal government or the defence ministry. While the prime minister is reported to have asked Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar to resolve the issue, the protestors claimed that the government had not contacted them till the filing of this report.

The JAC, an umbrella of various unions in the PIA, including People’s Unity, the PIA Employees Association, Palpa, Piassa, Air League and PIACE planned the countrywide protest to press the government to withdraw the deal with the Turkish Airline.

However, People’s Unity, which is linked to the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, split over the decision on Tuesday and scuffles were witnessed between its supporters at the Islamabad airport. However, it appears that the majority of its members were in favour of the protest and against the PIA management.Suhail Mukhtar, PIA’s employee Union CBA Secretary General, told Dawn that the management had unsuccessfully tried to divide the union. He said that Managing Director Aijaz Haroon had wrongly stated to the media that majority of the employees supported him (Haroon). “The strong protest proved that the workers were united for the cause,” he said.

He alleged that the management was trying to convert the International Airlines into a regional airline by giving its European routes to Turkish Airline. He said that the union and People’s Unity was against the PIA management, but not the government. “The management is misguiding the government.”

He said that only nine employees were in favour of the management.

However, Rizwan Sunni, head of the other group in Rawalpindi-Islamabad, claimed that the majority did not take part in the protest. He said that the protesters were disturbing the flights to create problems for the public, adding that the union did not raise the issue of salaries and other benefits of the employees and was just creating trouble over non-issues.

PML-N MNA Hanif Abbasi visited the Islamabad Airport and assured the employees for full support of his party. He said that the PML-N would support the demand of the workers community.