PIA Under Fire: Standing Committee Demands Answers

Islamabad: The Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges expresses annoyance over non-attendance of meeting by Chief Executive Officer, Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL), and urges that recurrence of such practice should be avoided in future. This was held by the Committee during the course of discussion over a Question of Privilege raised by Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel, MNA, concerning cancellation of his return ticket from Najaf (Iraq) to Karachi by the PIA officials on 8th August, 2024.

4th meeting of the Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure and Privileges was held today at 02:00 p.m. in the Parliament House, Islamabad, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Muhammad Afzal, MNA.

The Honorable MNA, Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel, while raising his Question of Privilege claimed that the non-professional attitude exhibited by the PIA officials in the whole scheme of thought had not only caused moral stress but also led to financial loss to him. He urged that the PIACL management should fix responsibility against all those responsible for the lapse so that such incidents are avoided in future. The Committee, taking note of non-attendance of meeting by the CEO, PIACL, expressed annoyance and urged that not only recurrence of such practices should be avoided in future but the CEO, PIACL, should ensure attendance in the next meeting to brief the Committee on the matter.

Regarding the matter concerning Code Sharing with other Carriers by the PIACL and non-revalidation of Electronic Miscellaneous Documents (EMDs) by the PIACL, the Honorable Members of the Committee pointed out that the Parliamentarians were facing immense difficulties due to these issues. The Chief Commercial Officer, PIACL, who was present in the meeting, shared with the Committee that the PIACL was in agreement with Turkish and Ethiopian Airlines for Code Sharing and assured that the matter regarding revalidation of EMDs will be finalized by the end of this Month. The Committee directed the CCO, PIACL, to accelerate their efforts for early resolution of the issue of EMDs.
The Honorable Members of the Committee, while drawing attention of the Chair towards certain issues of general public due to non-professional attitude of officials of SEPCO, HESCO, LESCO, SNGPL and SSGCL, urged that the managements of the said departments should be summoned in the next meeting so that all those issues are discussed in detail and get resolved in future.
On presentation of report of the Sub-Committee, the Honorable Convener, Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon, MNA, apprised the Committee that although the Sub-Committee did hold meeting, considered the amendments referred to it but could not finalized the recommendations, therefore, requested to reconstitute the said Sub-Committee for accomplishment of the remaining task. Honoring the proposal, the Committee reconstituted the Sub-Committee with the same composition and TOR. The Sub-Committee was required to examine the amendments moved by Dr. Nafisa Shah, MNA regarding insertion of new Rule 295 and Rule 296 and by Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA in Rule 119 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007, whereas, the Sub-Committee was comprised of Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur, Khawaja Izhar ul Hassan, Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar, MNAs, and submit its report within thirty days to the Standing Committee for its final consideration.

Mir Khan Muhammad Jamali, Chaudhry Armaghan Subhani, Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon, Mr. Azhar Qayyum Nahra, Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasar, Pir Syed Fazal Ali Shah Jillani, Mr. Zulfiqar Sattar Bachani, Mir Ghulam Ali Talpur, Mr. Ramesh Lal, Khawaja Izhar ul Hassan, Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar, Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel and Ms. Shagufta Jumani, MNAs attended the meeting. The senior officers from Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Aviation, PIACL and PARCO also attended the meeting.