KARACHI – The newly appointed managing director of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Nadeem Khan Yousufzai, is a close friend of Ubaid Jatoi – a classmate of President Asif Ali Zardari at Cadet College Petaro – who managed to get Nadeem appointed as PIA MD to replace his other friend, Captain Ijaz Haroon.
Sources told Pakistan Today that Jatoi wAs the first officer of PIA and had links in the power corridors. He managed to get Nadeem appointed as the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) director general on deputation in September last year. Ministry of Defense Joint Secretary Arshad Toor was suspended for months for raising an objection to the appointment of Nadeem as the DG CAA.
Even being the CAA DG, Nadeem used to fly 777 planes, which is illegal, as anybody from the CAA cannot fly PIA planes, sources said, adding that Jatoi, who is behind his appointment, had also managed to have his friend Junaid Amin appointed as the CAA DG before Nadeem’s appointment. The sources said Jatoi was Zardari’s classmate who later joined the Pakistan Air Force, but after he got suspended, he joined PIA in 1977. His incompetence can be gauged by the fact that he is still a first officer in PIA, the sources added.
However, PIA spokesman Mashhud Tajwar said they had not received any notification for the appointment of Nadeem Khan Yousufzai as the PIA MD from the ministry. He said flight operations had normalized, and total 65 flights, including 25 international,
had been operated by Saturday.
Haroon’s brother-in-law was found involved in theft from PIA’s duty free shop in Dubai around two years ago, but the MD restored his position as a steward in the airlines, instead of initiating an inquiry against him.
Friend replaces friend to run PIA
