PESHAWAR: The strike of the PIA employees has put the future of workers having jobs in the Gulf and Far Eastern countries at stake as the flight operations at the Bacha Khan International Airport Peshawar remained suspended on Tuesday.

The relevant officials said eight domestic and international flights to and from the provincial capital’s airport for Karachi, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Dubai and Kula Lumpur were cancelled due to the ongoing strike of the employees.

The office-bearers of the Joint Action Committee said the entire staff including engineering section and cabin crew was on strike and therefore, the flight for Kula Lumpur couldn’t take off.

They said the management had made arrangements to operate flight for Kula Lumpur. PIA operates one flight for Malaysia every week.

“The management was trying to make arrangements to operate flight for Malaysia but the entire staff was absent from duty,” said a member of the Joint Action Committee.

Like other stations, the management had served show cause notices on eight office-bearers of the committee at Peshawar station.

The ongoing strike is taking a toll on overseas Pakistanis, who have stranded due to the stalemate between PIA employees protesting against the airline’s proposed sell-off and the government.

On Tuesday, a large number of passengers, who came from abroad on vacation, gathered in front of the main PIA booking office here.

They demanded the immediate resumption of PIA service for Gulf States or alternate arrangements by the government for their going back to the Middle East and other countries.

Angry passengers had heated exchanges with the protesters, who set up a camp inside the PIA booking office in Saddar Bazaar.

The employees locked the main gate and offices to stop the entry of passengers.

The passengers shouted slogans against the PIA employees for continuing protest.

Fazal Manan, who belongs to Mohmand Agency, complained his three nephews, who came on vacation from the Middle East, had stranded due to the strike.

“We have been visiting the booking office for the last four days for the confirmation of flight but no official from the management is available for response,” he said.

The man said if the government could not end strike, then it should negotiate with other airlines to ferry stranded workers to their destinations immediately.

Habibullah, who came home from Dubai on vacation, said his work visa would expire if he didn’t resume duty by next Thursday.

He said the PIA either returned him money or provide alternate flight to save his job.

The PIA operates eight flights from Peshawar to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Masqat, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Kula Lumpur every week.

An official of the airlines said around 3,000 passengers traveled by the PIA to Middle East and Malaysia every week.

He said passengers also used the PIA for connecting flights to reach destinations in Europe and thousands of passengers had made booking in advance.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2016