ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national airline has written to foreign missions and global regulatory and safety bodies, assuring them it has grounded all 141 pilots suspected of obtaining licenses through unfair means, the carrier’s spokesman said on Saturday.
The move looks to assuage safety concerns after Pakistan’s Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said on Friday the government had asked various commercial airlines, flying clubs and charter companies to ground a total of 262 pilots until investigations into their qualifications are completed.
The action was prompted by a preliminary report on the crash of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft in Karachi last month, which found pilots had failed to follow standard procedures.
Global safety and transport bodies expressed concern about the alleged “dubious” licenses and said they were looking into the matter. PIA flies a number of international routes, including to the United States, Britain and Europe.
“It is also ensured that all pilots flying PIA flights are having genuine licenses endorsed by the government of Pakistan,” said a copy of the letter sent to the US Embassy in Islamabad seen by Reuters.
The letter, signed by PIA Chief Executive Arshad Malik, also promised the airline would remain compliant with all international aviation safety and regulatory standards.
PIA’s spokesman said the letter had been sent to all heads of foreign missions in Pakistan as well as international aviation regulators and safety monitoring agencies.
Aviation Minister Khan had said the move to ground the pilots would help allay global concerns and show wrongdoing had been corrected. He added that five officials of the aviation authority were also suspended for abetting the suspected pilots.
The Pakistani pilots’ union did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
In a joint statement, The International Federation of Airline Pilots’ Associations and the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers’ Associations called for the crash probe to be conducted on international standards, urging against “premature conclusions” based on incomplete or speculative information.
PIA moves to assuage concern on 'dubious' pilot licences
https://arab.news/2uqcf
PIA moves to assuage concern on 'dubious' pilot licences
- PIA sends letter to foreign missions, international aviation regulators to clarify its position
- Says 141 pilots suspected of obtaining licenses through unfair means have been grounded
Pakistan’s president condemns Kabul blast, accuses Taliban of allowing militant ‘safe havens’
- President Zardari links attack on Chinese-run restaurant to Kabul’s failure to meet Doha commitments
- He highlights the ‘failure’ of Afghanistan’s Taliban to establish a ‘broad-based and inclusive government’
KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday condemned a blast that ripped through a Chinese-run restaurant in Kabul, killing at least seven people, while criticizing Afghanistan’s Taliban administration for allowing “safe havens” to militant groups to export extremist violence in the region.
The explosion struck the restaurant in Kabul’s Shahr-e-Naw commercial district, an area considered one of the safest in the Afghan capital, killing one Chinese national and six Afghans and wounding several others, including a child, according to Afghan authorities.
The Afghan affiliate of Daesh militant group claimed responsibility, saying the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.
“The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has failed to honor the commitments made under the Doha Peace Agreement, particularly the obligation to prevent the use of Afghan soil for the export of terrorism,” Zardari said in a statement circulated by his office.
“Pakistan has repeatedly stressed that no terrorist groups should be allowed safe havens in Afghanistan and that regional peace and security must be upheld,” he continued, adding that “it is not just Pakistan but other neighbors of Afghanistan, including Tajikistan, [that] have recently been affected by the terrorists operating out of Afghan soil.”
Pakistan has frequently accused Afghanistan of sheltering proscribed armed factions such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Balochistan Liberation Army, and of facilitating attacks on Pakistani civilians and security forces, allegations the Taliban deny.
The two countries witnessed major border skirmishes in October last year, followed by talks mediated by Qatar and Türkiye.
Pakistan subsequently closed its border and suspended bilateral and transit trade with Afghanistan, a move that led to a 17% drop in “cross-border attacks,” according to the Center for Research and Security Studies.
Late November also saw a series of deadly incidents along the Tajikistan–Afghanistan border, with militants on the Afghan side firing across the frontier into Tajikistan, killing five Chinese workers employed on Chinese–Tajik mining and construction projects.
In December, Tajik border forces clashed with armed individuals who crossed from Afghanistan, killing several assailants but losing a border guard in the fighting.
Zardari paid tribute to Chinese nationals working in Afghanistan “despite rising insecurity” and expressed solidarity with the victims and their families, while reiterating calls for political reform in Kabul.
“The failure to establish a broad based and inclusive government by the Taliban is contrary to the Doha Agreement,” he said in the statement.
