could have serious repercussions.
PALPA office-bearers said that the emails had already been retracted and submitted a written apology to the director general of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), stating that the choice of the words was inaccurate and inappropriate.
In one of the emails, PALPA had alleged that unrest amongst the pilots had been engineered by the government to pave way for selling off the national flag-carrier to the Middle Eastern airlines. The email had also sought IFALPA’s assistance in highlighting these “gross violations” in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Senator Talha Mehmood, who in the previous meeting had warned against invoking of the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance (PPO) or any other anti-terror law against the pilots, shared a letter written to him by the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Aviation, Shujaat Azim, inviting his attention to his remarks about the use of the PPO and asking if the damaging email does not fall in its purview.
He said he had sent the letter to the Law Ministry for legal opinion and has been told that it cannot be used in the case.
He directed the relevant authorities that the written apology of PALPA cannot be used for any other purpose.
It was also decided that an appeal will be filed against the suspension of licenses of two pilots and a decision will be made within 15 days after filing of the appeal with the Aviation Division.
The Senate panel summoned details of such violations by others who had not been awarded any punishment.
The committee directed to resolve the matter pertaining to issuance of a show-cause notice to Captain Sohail Baloch for making a statement against obtaining planes on wet lease within a week.
At least three demands of PALPA were found to be out of the jurisdiction of PIA. These also included waiver of the federal excise duty on tickets for pilots. It was decided that the matter will be taken up by the Senate’s finance committee.