ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minister on Aviation Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan has said that the government is determined to uplift the standards of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
“For achieving this goal we are focusing on the induction of latest and modern technology at our airports which are being practiced by developed countries of the world” he said during a meeting held at Aviation Division in Islamabad after the reported incident of recovery of narcotics in PIA flight at Heathrow airport.
He said “We are gritty and courageous to make this airline to touch the same heights which had been its introduction in the past.”
In order to restrict the drugs’ trafficking and to ensure fool-proof security at all airports of the country Sardar Mehtab granted the approval of Central Operational Committee under the supervision of Civil Aviation director general accompanied by high officials of all concerned departments.
It was also decided to seek the services of proficient legal experts to ensure efficient prosecution and counter the cases of legal breach at airports.
He expressed that “In past, such incidents were being dusted all the times which let the black sheeps’ to get escaped.”
He said “The reported incident of recovery of narcotics was regrettable” adding that it is the matter of integrity and prestige of country.
He firmly shared that “Such acts cannot be tolerated or ignored at any cost and we are very concerned to find out the culprits involved in this reported disgraceful act and soon accused people will be in the court of law.”
He also stressed that “There should be a strong mechanism to hold the impartial inquiry and to keep a proper record of accused people and their networks but to fulfill this dream we need to ensure the fastest systems of our investigation heading towards accountability of involved factors.” He also stressed on need of liability at every level and said “Without it, we cannot fulfill the dream to make our actions transparent.”
During the meeting, adviser was briefed by officials of all departments that no official intimation is made by British Authorities about narcotic recovery form PIA plan in London.
In the meeting, a detailed discussion was made about different measures to be taken in this regard. It was also suggested that the entry of irrelevant people should be banned in the engineering section of all airports while the activities of the workers should be monitored with the help of CCTV cameras and biometric system.
It was also decided that to minimize the security issues all planes should be thoroughly checked by all departments once they are received back from engineering section after required maintenance.
During the meeting, anti-narcotics informed the advisor that Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) is actively keeping an eye on the illegal activities of narcotics’ smuggling in all over the country adding that a mechanism has been made to check the cargo to minimize such incidents in the future. It was also suggested in the meeting that the checking of a plane should be made from its recovering from engineering till runway.
ANF shared in the meeting that FIA has captured different cases which are actively persuaded in court by ANF. On this occasion, custom officials also briefed that 9 thousand employees of custom are rendering their services at different airports of the country.
In the meeting, different suggestions were also taken in to the consideration by advisor to PM and it was mutually decided that a solid strategy should be devised with the help of all concerned departments.
Formation of central operation forum was also welcomed by all members of the meetings which will work at central level under the supervision of DG CAA. This forum will also include the members from ANF, Custom, ASF, PIA to ensure the proper functioning of SOPs at all airports of the country.
PIA and Sectary Aviation Division Chairman Irfan Ilahi, Civil Aviation Authority Director General Air Marshal (R) Asim Suleman, Director General Anti-Narcotics Force Major General Musarat Nawaz Malik, Director General Airport Security Force Major General Ali Abbas Haider, PIA Acting Chief Executive Officer Naayer Hayat, Chief Collector Custom, Security Chief PIA, Brigadier (R) Muhmmad Asif Khan and other relevant officials were also among the attendants.
