Passengers’ harassment rife at airports, Senate panel told

CAA DG laments lack of coordination among ASF, ANF, Customs personnel

ISLAMABAD:

The top civil aviation official on Monday sharply criticised difference government departments and agencies posted at the country’s airports, alleging that a lack of coordination among them led to harassment of the passengers.

In a briefing to the Senate’s aviation committee, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) director general alleged that officials from the Customs, Airport Security Force (ASF) and Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) were involved in extorting money from passengers.

The Senate Committee on Aviation met here with its chairman Hidayatullah in the chair. The committee discussed the issue of fake degree of employees and it stopped the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from closing such cases.

While briefing the committee, CAA DG Khaqan Murtaza painted a dismal picture of the management of the airports by the relevant departments and agencies. He apprised the committee of lack of coordination among these agencies.

“There is lack of communication among ASF, ANF, Customs personnel,” Murtaza told the committee, lamenting “mismanagement” at airports. He accused Customs, ANF and ASF staff of harassing passengers and extorting money from them through blackmail.

He said that ASF, ANF and Customs staff did not sit together, as a result the joint search counters had become non-functional. He added that each agency at the airport was after taking credit for “recovery” from passengers.

Murtaza stressed that the CAA could provide goods and services, but creating a mechanism was the responsibility of these agencies. For example, he continued scanners were installed at the airports, but the ASF and ANF staff did not sit at the counter.

“Joint search counters are inactive due to non-cooperation among agencies. People are taken to a side and threatened with either missing the flight or going to jail. Even if nothing was found, the passenger has to pay money to leave,” he charged.

The issue of installing new scanners at the airports and the upgradation of old scanners was also discussed in the meeting. The committee was told that the current machines could not detect “ice” drug.

In the meeting, an FIA director stated that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Affected Employees Committee instruction about the employees allegedly having fak degrees. He added that the cases had been sent to the interior ministry.

The committee opposed the reinstatement of the employees with fake degrees. The chair observed that reinstating the fake degree holders will set a wrong precedence. The directed FIA DG to attend the next meeting.