RAWALPINDI: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Aviation Division on Wednesday expressed concern over the business plan of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and seizure of its plane in Malaysia.

The third meeting of the standing committee chaired by Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Chaoudhary also called for a detailed briefing on the airlines business plan.

During the meeting, the Aviation Division responded to the committee’s queries about the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) performance.

The representatives from PIA gave a briefing on their operations and challenges being faced by the airlines.

The committee raised concerns over the business plan of PIA and its operations viz-a-viz the losses and incidents such as PIA aircraft being held in Malaysia and recommended that PIA should give a detailed and exclusive briefing on their business plan in the next meeting.

The CAA director general gave a detailed briefing on the working, projects and challenges of the CAA.

MNAs Faizullah, Malik Karamat Ali Khokhar, Tahir Iqbal, Niaz Ahmed Jakhar, Asma Qadeer, Saira Bano, Riazul Haq, Ch. Faqir Ahmed, Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha, Romina Khursheed Alam, Dr. Darshan, Naveed Dero, Jam Abdul Karim Bijar and Kamaluddin attended the meeting.

Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan participated in the meeting as its ex-officio member.

Minister visits IIA

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Wednesday that overseas Pakistanis are valuable assets for the country and he will not tolerate any shortcoming in the facilities provided to them.

The minister visited new Islamabad International Airport (IIA) to review facilities being provided to passengers and said: “I will not tolerate any shortcoming in the facilities provided to those coming from abroad.”

He said special instructions have been issued to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Immigration, Airport Security Force and Customs Department to take care of passengers coming from abroad. Mr Rashid was accompanied by home secretary, DG immigration along with FIA and senior CAA officials.

Online visa system is open for citizens of 192 countries and the prime minister has decided that there should not be any disruption in issuance of online visas, he said, adding: “If any man asks for a sticker, he should contact me directly.”

He also announced that people will get an e-passport within two months while the passport for labourers has been extended to 10 years, adding, Nadra will make 100,000 identity cards daily and the first one will be free of charge. “Pakistan’s image will be better. I assure all overseas Pakistanis that they will get the best facilities on arrival at the airport,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2021