ISLAMABAD, Sept 14: The Senate was informed on Wednesday that as many as 153 employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) were each drawing a monthly salary of Rs500,000 or more.

The list of the 153 handsomely-paid PIA employees provided to the house by Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar mostly comprises the names of pilots. The list, however, appears to be outdated as it includes the name of Aijaz Haroon as managing director, even though he resigned the post in February this year.

The list includes the names of deputy managing director Salim Sayani, chief financial officer Faisal Imran Hussain, senior general managers Haroon Abdullah and Khalid Iftikhar, general manager (training operations) Junaid Yunus, deputy general manager (safety) Zafar Islam, deputy general manager (safety management) Amjad Zia Malik, chief flight engineer Javed Iqbal and flight engineer K.A. Khan.

Answering another question, the minister said that 12 individuals were inducted into PIA in violation of government rules in force during the tenure of the former managing director, Mr Haroon. He said the requirements of advertisement, qualification, height and age were dispensed with while appointing the individuals.

However, the appointments were approved by the PIAC Board.

In a written reply, Minister for Defence Production Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said no developed country was willing to share drone technology with the developing countries.

He said Pakistan currently did not have the capacity to develop the technology indigenously. However, the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex, Kamra, and an Italian company were engaged in co-production of unarmed aerial vehicles (UAV).

He said in the first phase of the project eight UAVs were assembled and handed over to the PAF for operational use. He said the aircraft were being used for surveillance.