MPs will not let ‘VIP culture’ die out

*Members of NA, Senate put onus of flight delay on PIA management

*PIA officials say technical fault and late arrival of another flight delayed PK-370 for one and a half hour whereas MNA Kumar and Senator Rehman Malik arrived half hour late

*Lawmakers say PIA should blacklist ‘misbehaving’ passengers and initiate legal action against them

Parliamentarians, both in the National Assembly and Senate, admonished the management of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for their inaction against the passengers who “misbehaved” with lawmakers Ramesh Kumar and Senator Rehman Malik upon their late arrival on board PIA’s PK-370 flight.

The incident which occurred on September 15 triggered nationwide agitation on electronic, print and social media after passengers who had to endure more than two-hour-long delay, uploaded footages in which strong language was used by passengers upon the late arrival of Kumar and Malik.

Interestingly, rather than taking action against Adviser to Prime Minister on Aviation Shujaat Azeem for PIA’s poor performance and frequent delays in flights, the Senate Committee on Cabinet Secretariat formed a committee headed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Mushahidullah Khan, whose own brother has been accused of handing out controversial promotions in the PIA.

A source who attended a meeting of NA Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat told Pakistan Today that during the meeting, the parliamentarians came down harsh on PIA Managing Director Shahnawaz Rehman and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Secretary Mohammad Ali Gardezi.

“The lawmakers lambasted the PIA management for their inaction against the passengers who uploaded the footage on social media. The committee members opined that the management should have taken legal action against the passengers besides barring them from travelling via PIA in future,” the source said.

An official statement confirming the development states that the PIA officials assured the committee that further action will be taken against the passengers who “misbehaved” with the parliamentarians.

“The committee was informed that the flight was initially delayed for one and half hours as a repercussion of late arrival of incoming aircraft PK-369 and due to technical fault. It incurred a further delay of 25 minutes due to Kumar and Malik’s late arrival,” the statement says.

SENATORS BLAME PIA:

Separately on the same day, the Senate Committee on Cabinet Secretariat also took up the VIP issue. Committee Chairperson Kalsoom Perveen said, “The PIA management is responsible for the delayed flights but the blame is being passed onto to the lawmakers.”

“Is there a Rehman Malik travelling in each national and international flight which is delayed?” she questioned.

Other senators also criticised the PIA MD and Civil Aviation authority (CAA) secretary for the flight delay.

Complaining that airhostesses are always seen in a bad mood, Senator Rubina Khalid said that the PIA airhostesses do not even smile while talking to the passengers.

“If they cannot deliver good services, the airhosteses can at least smile at the passengers,” she said.