Stuck at immigration: ‘Excessive protocol causes most delays at airports’

Airport authorities consider ways to satisfy Supreme Court on travel delays.

LAHORE:

While giving protocol to their dear ones, the officials of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), immigration authorities, Overseas Pakistanis Federation (OPF) and all other law enforcing agencies deployed at Pakistan’s international airports cause problems for other travellers.

This was pointed out in a high level meeting of officials concerned under the chairmanship of Director Airport Services Headquarters CAA Asif Bashir on Monday.

The meeting at Allama Iqbal Airport, Lahore, was held to take steps that satisfy the Supreme Court (SC), which had taken suo motu notice against the hardships being faced by travellers at the airports a year ago. CAA legal advisor Abdul Rehman Abbasi gave a briefing on legal points. A reply will be filed before the SC, before April 11, the date when the SC is to hear the case.

In the meeting, airport managers described the attitude of immigration staff when dealing with travellers as improper.

They also complained that staff was insufficient. It was also discussed that non availability of enough staff of the OPF at the airports causes hardships for passengers, as does non-vigilance of CAA staff.

But the biggest problem as identified during the meeting was that officials of CAA, Customs, Immigration, OPF, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Airport Security Force (ASF), and Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) remained busy in giving protocols to their dear ones, which, it was noted, causes hardships for other passengers.

Officials of these departments usually are unavailable at their seats, which causes inordinate delay for other passengers, officials privy to the proceedings told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity. It was agreed that ‘revolutionary steps’ needed to be taken to solve these problems.

Though many unassuming travellers are members of OPF, which should help facilitate them at airports, the passengers are unaware of their rights and so the opposite happens, said the sources.

Representatives of the OPF informed the participants that they had started making announcements at the airports informing members about their rights. It was decided that a new one-window operation would be started, which would include representatives of customs, immigration and CAA to facilitate passengers.

Officials of immigration were asked not to take more than 20 minutes in clearing a flight. It was also suggested that the Immigration officials set up a separate office at airports for members of the OPF.

It was also recommended that an inspection team be formed which could conduct surprise visits to airports to ensure that everyone was fulfilling their duties and not creating hurdles for passengers. The team should have representatives of the FIA, the ASF, the CAA, customs and Immigration, it was proposed.

According to a press statement issued by CAA, the meeting was attended by all stake holders including director level officers from all the agencies operating at the airports, and also representatives of several airlines i.e. PIA, Shaheen Air, Air Blue. Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Airlines Operators Committee representing all international airlines operating to Pakistan were also there, as were airport managers of all international airports of the country.

Issues related to travellers of the Gulf and Middle East routes were deliberated at length. It was emphasised that Pakistan’s expatriate labour force should be assisted by the agencies concerned and the language used should be Urdu in addition to English, for their convenience.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2013.