MIAN ABRAR
A special committee of the Senate on Monday sought details from the high-ups of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) as who approved sending of an aircraft to Malta for filming of a controversial movie of Israel which might have political and religious implications.
The observations were made during a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on PIA performance here at the Parliament House. According to media reports, the PIA, despite of no diplomatic ties of Pakistan with Israel, allowed one of its planes for shooting of a controversial Israeli movie in Malta.
Israelis are producing a film based on historical events of Operation Entebbe, said the reports. Operation Entebbe was a hostage-rescue mission carried out by Israeli Army (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on July 4, 1976, against two members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Israel is now filming this event in a movie in which PIA has provided one of its planes for shooting. The PIA officials have also confirmed that the plane had gone to Malta for the shooting.
The lawmakers also took strong notice of the absence of the PIA Chairman from the meeting. The committee also formed a sub-committee to submit a report on failure of the airline administration and its operations.
Committee Chairman Senator Mushahidullah Khan expressed extreme displeasure over absence of PIA chairman and chief executive officer (CEO). The PIA directors informed the sitting that chairman and other senior high-ups were out of country “despite having prior intimation about the committee meeting schedule”.
The chairman said that the PIA chairman was non-serious about the Senate committee meetings and he had breached the privilege of the committee a number of times. The committee agreed on formation of a sub-committee to see specifically the administrative and operational issues of PIA.
The sub-committee will be headed by Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah of the PML-F and will have senators Farhatullah Babar and Senator Abdul Qayyum as members.
The committee during different briefings by PIA directors was told that PIA has outstanding payments to PSO and Civil Aviation Authority for many years which occasionally led to delays in flights and other operations.
The committee directed the PIA to finalize an agreement with both as to how these defaults will be paid and in what time frame and also to prepare a revival plan for the company whose loss amounted to Rs 14 billion last year.
The committee sought a detailed report along with all documents containing approvals and correspondence of the tender process of the obsolete 310 aircrafts of PIA.
The meeting was attended among others by senators Nauman Wazir, Farhatullah Babar, Muzaffar Hussain, Kamil Ali Agha, Usman Kakar, Saeed Ghani, Civil Aviation secretary, Privatization Commission secretary and PIA directors.
