ISLAMABAD, April 10: The government told the National Assembly on Monday a dress code disallowed Pakistan Air Force (PAF) pilots to wear long beards for being a flying hazard, but there was no bar on short, trimmed beards.

The statement came after an opposition member raised what Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain called a “very important and sensitive matter” and sought a debate on the reported forced retirement of one PAF officer and the grounding of four others for refusing to shave their beards.

The chair reserved its ruling on whether to admit or reject the adjournment motion for a debate sought by Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal (MMA) member Liaqat Baloch, who described the PAF action against five flyers as un-Islamic and a violation of Pakistan’s constitution.

The motion was based on a report in last month’s Herald magazine that identified the five PAF pilots against whom, it said, disciplinary action had been taken for their beards.

Parliamentary secretary for defence Tanveer Hussain Syed confirmed a penal action was taken after a violation of the PAF code and disobedience of orders by a squadron leader who he said had also incited others to grow long beards, but did not specify what exactly was done against whom.

He said the PAF had put no bar on any personnel of any rank to keep a beard and “never ordered anyone to shave their beards”.

“But there had to be a limit to the length of the beard,” he said, citing what he called the service code provisions necessary for the safety of pilots and their aircraft.

He said a long beard could interfere with the functioning of tight-fitting oxygen masks that the PAF pilots must wear on their faces during flights that can take them as high as 70,000 to 80,000 feet.

While a short beard would be in order, a long beard would not allow a proper adjustment of the mask on the face and leave a gap that could result in the loss of pilot’s life and the aircraft, Mr Syed said.

He said a squadron leader, Mohsin Hayat Ranjha, had kept a beard since he joined the PAF in 1987 as a cadet but he broke the code by growing a long beard in 2003 and “incited others” to do the same.

Mr Syed said Mr Ranjha refused when the officers were asked to trim their beards to a permissible size and added: “Anyone disobeying an order has to suffer a punishment.”

Mr Baloch dismissed Mr Syed’s account as “baseless” and said no institution had the right to interfere in religious matters.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi said the issue was not fit for an adjournment motion but advised Mr Syed and Mr Baloch to “sit together” to discuss between themselves and possibly with the PAF high command rather than publicise a sensitive matter in the house.

The Speaker too asked the parliamentary secretary and the MMA member to discuss the matter between themselves as he reserved his ruling on admitting the adjournment motion.

PSM SALE: Mr Afgan also opposed six adjournment motions filed by several members of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and the MMA objecting to what they regard as a low price received by the government for its sale of a 75 percent stake in Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) last month.