Shehbaz holds aviation minister's 'mindless' speech in NA responsible for PIA bans
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Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Friday held Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan responsible for the ban on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) by several countries, including the US and the UK.
"The ban on PIA imposed by several countries, with the US being the latest, is a consequence of mindless & ill-thought-out speech by [the] aviation minister who only wanted to evade responsibility.
"Look at what he has done to the entire aviation industry besides bringing [a] bad name to Pakistan!" he said.
On June 30, the aviation minister had disclosed in parliament that 150 pilots working for the national carrier had 'dubious licences'. He had made the remarks while presenting the initial report of the PIA May 22 plane crash.
Read more: Minister under fire in NA over pilots ‘disclosure’
On Thursday, the United States transport authority became the latest among a number of countries to revoke permission granted to PIA to operate a number of special direct flights to the US.
The authorisation was revoked "due to recent events identified by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority that are of serious concern to aviation safety, specifically matters pertaining to the proper certification of certain Pakistani pilots", according to an email sent to PIA officials by a US-based law firm, seen by Dawn.com.
Earlier, the European Union and British aviation authorities had barred the airline from flying to their airports for at least six months.
Meanwhile, the aviation regulators of several other countries have sought verification of the credentials of Pakistani pilots and engineers working for them.
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (52) Closed
Jul 10, 2020 05:05pm
Change requires courage my friend, don't sweep things under the carpet.
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Jul 10, 2020 05:09pm
PIA needs to be shut down.
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Jul 10, 2020 05:10pm
No worse then Shehbaz eating away earthquake donations.
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Jul 10, 2020 05:25pm
This time he is absolutely right. The govt should protect their citizen's interest and not become the reason for their unemployment. I am surprised the so called minister has still not resigned. If such thing was going on, then he must be the first person to take the responsibility and resign. Honeymoon period is over now and its high time that PTI ministers should stop the blame game and deliver for what they have been appointed for.
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Jul 10, 2020 05:31pm
I think your party and Zardari have done enough to give Pakistan a bad name for years
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Jul 10, 2020 05:33pm
Look who is blaming, the governments of whom presided over to make PIA an inefficient, money draining ,overstaffed, accident prone, patronized white elephant. PIA
can not be run by his ethics.
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Jul 10, 2020 05:44pm
Ok Mr. Shahbaz Sherrif would you like to travel on a plane where is Piloted by unlicensed Captain? Would you risk passengers on board and people on the ground? Would you assume responsibility if a plane crashes? This is not a political matter, this is safety issue.
Now, as a leader can you resolve this issue?
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Jul 10, 2020 05:46pm
It appears that Shehbaz Sharif wants more people to die in plane crashes rather than exposing the shortcomings in the system and to start taking remedial measures. If he or one of his immediate family member was on the plane that recently crashed, I am sure that he would have a different opinion.
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Jul 10, 2020 05:56pm
Politicians in general are not supposed to speak the truth. When someone violates that rule, expect others to condemn. It does not matter that aviation minister may have saved lives of thousands of people by uttering the truth.
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Jul 10, 2020 06:04pm
Yes those who bring out the wrongs are the ones at fault. Great logic!
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Jul 10, 2020 06:15pm
The people who are mindless and heartless are the Sharif’s and the Zardari’s. Not a rupee given to the poor victims of Covid 19. Not a penny returned to the national exchequer from ill gotten wealth stashed abroad. These dubious characters will have a lot of explaining to do on the day of judgement.
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Jul 10, 2020 06:34pm
True.
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Jul 10, 2020 06:37pm
So PML-N won't reflect on why they got unqualified people hired in PIA in the first place but would blame the current government who exposed their corruption. Pathetic!!!
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Jul 10, 2020 06:37pm
Agreed (.)
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Jul 10, 2020 07:05pm
I fully agree with Shehbaz Sharif on this issue.
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Jul 10, 2020 07:05pm
It's is not appropriate for government and opposition to blame each other on pilots Fiasco. It's a team effort and both of them should take credit for this achievement
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Jul 10, 2020 07:07pm
Shehbaz is not a good person but he is correct in this case.
Minister has done a great harm to the country. PIA does need to change but the process needs adjustment.
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Jul 10, 2020 07:09pm
Why shahbaz sharif is mum about not knowing on what grounds were those people granted those pilots licenses? Root cuase of the problem needs to be found too....
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Jul 10, 2020 07:12pm
I incline to agree here. One pilot's human error during recent Lahore Karachi flight was taken as reference to blame all pilots and exposing the loophole out of proportion rather than eliminating it through administrative process. Of so many flights operated by PIA, this was a stray case of an individual's failure for which the entire PIA organization is paying a costly price
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Jul 10, 2020 07:21pm
The actions of aviation minister should be applauded. There is nothing wrong to come out clean and reform the ills in institution. How long can we hide skeletons of our past failures in closet? Shabaz Sharif's comment reflect his short sightedness and lack of vision.
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Jul 10, 2020 07:31pm
He wouldn't have talked sensibly either if replaced by him
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Jul 10, 2020 07:39pm
Yes, you shold shout because those pilots were hired your and Zardari's tenure. Safety of the passengers should be the priority not the honor or name of the country. If there is no safety, how you going to build confidence to fly with this air line. I salute to the honesty of the Minister.
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Jul 10, 2020 07:54pm
Shehbaz should develop the habit of recording & listening to his statements before making them public.
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Jul 10, 2020 07:56pm
I agree he should not have said it in that manner but how many more lives would PIA wanted to lose due to incompetent pilots. At least we should ensure competency to reduce chances of air crashes
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Jul 10, 2020 07:58pm
People can commit fraud and get away with bribery domestically. However at the international level there is serious damage.
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Jul 10, 2020 07:58pm
I sincerely believe neither PMLN nor PPP can turn Pakistan into Paris in another half century.
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Jul 10, 2020 08:33pm
Your consecutive governments made this mess of dodgy pilots. It's good that PIA is going through this long overdue purging process.
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Jul 10, 2020 08:40pm
Only track record determines the ban not ministers speech. World is not as gullible as SS portraying.
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Jul 10, 2020 08:46pm
Privatize PIA. Only solution.
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Jul 10, 2020 08:53pm
Is he back in Pakistan or still tweeting from UK??? Let’s talk when you come back dear...
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Jul 10, 2020 09:28pm
Can any qualifications from Pakistan be trusted?
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Jul 10, 2020 09:31pm
The foreclosure of PIA will save us 4 billion rupees per month right from the beginning. In addition, the lives of people flying with this airline will be somehow safe for kicking out the incompetent staff. Please scrap and sell the metal as soon as possible by firing the staff hired on political grounds.
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Jul 10, 2020 09:42pm
The ones who hired these unqualified pilots are now complaining. Shame on you Shehbaz
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Jul 10, 2020 09:51pm
Amazing objection by Shahbaz Sharif, how many aeroplane must crash and how many people must die to make Shahbaz understand the real problems, now i understand that's why they truly believe in looting and let loot the country.
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Jul 10, 2020 10:02pm
So, we should have gone along with unqualified pilots flying airplane loads of innocent people? Or, are you saying that we should have kept it hush-hush and secretly started proceedings to locate them one by one, only to have their union (PALPA), one by one, strong arm the airline into keeping them on the roster. Even if they were let go one by one, what do you think would happen after say the 40th pilot was kicked out? Do you think the world is so stupid that no one would notice? Admitting your mistakes, taking the medicine and swearing to never again allowing such things to happen, is how you fix things and rebuild credibility.
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Jul 10, 2020 10:18pm
@Pakistani, From reviewing the facts this is what I understand.
The hiring was like the routine in any department in Pakistan but the re-certification was where a scam occurred. So firstly that is what needed to be addressed.
Secondly, rather than blurting it out in assembly, show cause notices to individuals should've been given individually. It could've made news there onward. As a result the ones who are not at fault would not have been maligned and the entire PIA would not have suffered.
As a result everyone in PIA has been blacklisted.
PTI government goes on to media first and acts later. That is what was the fault here.
Now if this was done in the reverse order on purpose, to malign and disband PIA, then this was a huge conspiracy against Pakistan.
In due course, most of pilots will probably get reinstated following re-certifications. The ones who originally had dubious degrees are no different than the ones who got elected without proper qualifications, including the PM.
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Jul 10, 2020 10:37pm
Shehbaz should move Supreme Court Suo Moto to remove Ghulam Sarwar and impose damages for the financial losses he caused PIA pilots and their families. Hundreds of INNOCENT PILOTS have been financially injured by Ghulam Sarwars negligence.
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Jul 11, 2020 12:02am
No Shabaz Shrief is totally wrong. Minister did very courageous act of telling the truth.
For PML-N human lives are not important BUT Money is!
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Jul 11, 2020 12:12am
Shahbaz is living in a fools paradise and tries to once again fool the world through the corruption tactics
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Jul 11, 2020 01:44am
use PIA for local goods transport
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Jul 11, 2020 01:48am
Banning flights should be preferred over any unfortunate incident caused by those who are not qualified to fly. But then, Shahbaz has to oppose for the sake of opposition.
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Jul 11, 2020 02:12am
Depends on how you look at it. A man telling the truth to save human lives or a zerk who does not know not to speak up before he has all the facts. Any ways, it's too late but lower your head and get ready for the blows.
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Jul 11, 2020 02:38am
One is simply forced to wonder whether the speech falls within the ambit of betrayal of national interests ? Any sense of shame should oblige the minister to resign along with a public apology
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Jul 11, 2020 02:59am
Safety first. The minister has had the guts to take a firm and public stand, and this will lead to rapid and positive change. What would his critics rather have him do...work in a darkened room to hide and manage the problem even as unqualified pilots fly thousands of passengers 35000 feet above the ground?
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Jul 11, 2020 04:11am
@Rubina Aleem, People’s lives are at stake because of these fake pilots.Why should you reward incompetent people.Just amazing attitude.
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Jul 11, 2020 05:38am
Aviation minister did it intentionally or unintentionally but it will end up being blessing in disguise.PIA is a problem organization and Sharifs has nothing to do with its restoration after three terms as PM.It is better for him if he keeps silent.
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Jul 11, 2020 07:30am
PIA is a burden on taxpayers for decades.
Privitisation is the only solution.
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Jul 11, 2020 07:42am
@Sam, exactly ... The world is grateful that no Pakistani pilot is flying their planes as it was needed as an immediate notification - don't trust them, even though they are our own, in case they are so morally decimated.
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Jul 11, 2020 07:53am
Do all those with their sanctimonious comments, realize what a huge impact this will have on the economy and airworthiness of Pakistan’s national carrier.
Instead of fixing the problem, the minister decided to politicize the issue. He had three years to fix it. Instead he threw out the baby with the bath water.
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Jul 11, 2020 08:44am
I struggled to find something nice to say about him. I got it now. He had pretty eyes. That's all I could find. I am not so keen on what he has to say.
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Jul 11, 2020 12:30pm
I have to give it to Shahbaz and the party. They are working hard, making a lot of noise to save their skin. I wish they worked this hard for Pakistan when they were in power.
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Jul 11, 2020 09:22pm
The Aviation minister should have resigned . If these leaders are not accountable then don’t expect other official to be accountable as well .
To be blunt , it translates into shameless and characterless leadership .
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