‘Frank’ admission

Govt failed to anticipate its frankness would put credibility of aviation industry at stake

The aviation minister’s shocking revelation that 262 of the 860 active commercial pilots in Pakistan hold ‘dubious’ licences has triggered a chain reaction. The EU has barred PIA from operating within the 27-member bloc for six months; the UK has followed suit, withdrawing our national carrier’s permit to operate from three of its airports; the UAE has sought to verify the credentials of Pakistani pilots and engineers working for its airlines; and Vietnam has grounded all Pakistani pilots working for local airlines till further notice.

This clearly constitutes a serious global concern as to the credentials of our airline professionals, happening in the wake of the International Air Transport Association sounding the alarm over the “serious lapse in the licensing and safety oversight by the aviation regulator”. The issue continues to grab headlines the world over. CNN has termed it a “most extraordinary” aviation story. The Guardian calls Pakistani pilots “exam cheat”. Aljazeera has given the story and its related aspects quite a prominent coverage. And the Indian media has kept on spewing venom.

All this happened after the Government of Pakistan decided that it must not desist from making the “honest” admission about the “dubious” credentials of nearly a third of the commercial pilots in the country — mostly belonging to the national flag carrier — as the matter relates to the lives of the people. Aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan made the admission on behalf of the government on the floor of the National Assembly while unveiling an inquiry report on the May 22 plane crash in Karachi that claimed 97 lives.

The government, however, failed to anticipate that its “frankness” and “honesty” would put the credibility of our aviation industry and the reputation of the country at stake. While it’s true that public interest does merit such a step — whatever the cost may be — the government should have taken all local and foreign stakeholders in confidence before dropping the bombshell. Or is it that the government deliberately compromised on national interest just for the sake of exploiting this window of opportunity to malign the governments of the past and score political points? Well, the opposition does say so.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2020.

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