AIRCRAFT carrying Pakistani prime minister was made to remain in holding pattern over Gan (Maldives) due to some activity at the Gan airport, according to Gan ATC (Nov 10).

There may be two possibilities for this ‘incidence’. First, maybe the Indians wanted to show their nuisance value or secondly, maybe it was just lack of coordination by air traffic controllers of the host country.

Under both these cases, the Pakistani aircraft should have been given priority over the Indian plane, for missing its slot by a huge margin of 45 minutes. During this period, Pakistan One could have easily landed and cleared the runway.

ATCs should also have allocated a new slot to the Indian plane and reverted to the normal schedule of slots. It is disappointing that the Pakistani authorities did not lodge a formal protest.

ABID MAHMUD ANSARIIslamabad