Castigation versus prosecution
The airline suffered incalculable financial (projected though not verified at 200 billion rupees) and prestige loss subsequent to a statement made on 24 June 2020 by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan on the floor of the House, claiming that there were 860 active pilots in the country and 262 had appeared in exams through proxies.
According to him, almost 30 percent of pilots held fake or improper licences and did not have flying experience to boot. This generated legitimate concern in the international aviation agency and Western countries, including the UK, and PIA operations were banned in Europe and the US in July 2020 while Pakistani pilots employed in international airlines were grounded.
The following day, PIA spokesman announced that the airline had grounded 150 pilots of 434 pilots based on bogus licences which led to the European Union banning the airline from its airports. In July, European Union and the US banned PIA flights.
Sarwar's statement followed the 22 May 2020 devastating plane crash in Karachi that killed 97 with the final report released by Aircraft Accident Investigation Board of Pakistan on 25 February 2024 that stipulated that primary causes of the accident were (i) the aircraft made gear-up landing where both engines' nacelle made contact with runway; (ii) both engines were damaged causing loss of engine oil and lubrication, which resulted in failure of both engines during go-around; and (iii) lack of communication between the ATC and the flight crew regarding gear-up landing, particularly once aircraft was on the runway. And a contributing cause cited was non-adherence to SOPs and disregard of ATC instructions during the event flight, a rather disturbing finding.
Twenty-five days before the final report of the 22 May crash was released, on 31 January 2025, the federal cabinet ordered an inquiry against Ghulam Sarwar for 'irresponsible and speculative statements' that triggered a ban on PIA in Europe and the US.
Explosions of justified outrage have been expressed by members of the incumbent government at the majorly negative repercussions of Sarwar's 2020 statement, which accounted for the losses suffered by the airline that, in turn, required massive annual injections at the taxpayers' expense — an outrage that is without doubt shared by the hundreds of thousands who were forced to fly by foreign airlines and take a circuitous and more expensive route to Pakistan.
However, while clamour for prosecution and restitution against Ghulam Sarwar is justified yet the constitution of Pakistan expressly states that 'all executive actions of the federal government shall be expressed to be taken in the name of the President and the federal government shall by rules specify the manner in which orders and other instruments made and executed [in the name of the President] shall be authenticated, and the validity of any order or instrument so authenticated shall not be questioned in any court on the ground that it was not made or executed by the President' — who has immunity from prosecution till his holding of office.
This immunity is available to decisions, however flawed, taken by cabinet members around the world. Furthermore, no action can be taken against anything said during the proceedings of parliament and, therefore, it may not be possible to prosecute Ghulam Sarwar for his outrageous and inaccurate claims made on the floor of the National Assembly of Pakistan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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