Minister scolds airline staff for violating protocol ban

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Information & Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday reprimanded PIA Lahore staff for giving protocol to a senior officer of the national flag-carrier.

Reportedly, Fawad Ch who was at the airport along with Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood and Adviser to PM of Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood to leave for Islamabad on Sunday when he saw some PIA Lahore employees with flowers allegedly to give protocol to the national airline’s chief operating officer (COO) Ijaz Mazhar and reprimanded them for violating the government’s policy. It is learnt the Information Minister had also sought written explanation from the PIA authorities in this regard. Meanwhile, in a press release, a PIA spokesperson the airline’s COO Ijaz Mazhar travelled from Lahore to Islamabad on Sunday as part of official duty but neither had he demanded protocol nor the same was given to him. He said PIA was strictly following the government’s ban on protocol culture.