Security protocol: No more family goodbye, see-off

From July 6, aviation authorities will stop all but one person from receiving or seeing off passengers.

KARACHI:

Perhaps the most significant effect of security threats at airports will be felt from July 6 when aviation authorities stop all but one person from receiving or seeing off passengers.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Saturday announced that under its new strict security protocol, a restriction on the entry of more than one person will be enforced at airports across the country.

“For this purpose, we need everyone’s support. We want the public to realise that this is being done for their own safety,” the CAA spokesperson said. “The security measures will be strictly enforced by the Airport Security Force (ASF).”

For hundreds of thousands of emigrants, expats, their families and friends, Pakistani airports have offered fond experiences. Every time someone arrived from abroad, several relatives and loved ones would be waiting at the arrival gate to receive the person.

At times, scenes witnessed at the airports are amusing. Dozens of family members, cramped in hired buses and Suzuki vans, would come to the airport, bringing garlands, rose petals and even party poppers.

Even the way people lined up along barriers right in front of the glass gates of arrival and departure sections is memorable. The wait could start three hours before the flight.

“This is something specific to our Pakistani culture,” says Sabeen Hasan, a banker who travels frequently on official trips. “But the government knows better. Security has become a big issue these days. You never know who can sneak in with a bomb or a weapon.”

The airports, especially Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport, have also been sort of entertainment spot for many years. Through the 1980s and 1990s, people came along with families just to see planes take off. A terrace specifically built for this purpose, where one could go after paying a small fee, was open for public till a few days back.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2014.