Can a parliamentary committee legalize a criminal offense committed by over 800 employees, who should have never been recruited in this overstaffed state enterprise PIA, had the management at the helm in 2008-2009-2010 carried out proper screening, which every organization and bank, does before recruitment? Hundreds of qualified citizens are unemployed, whilst fraudsters manage to get employed because of corrupt practices. Unfortunately, such misdeeds have been committed, either due to incompetence or sheer corruption, which has destroyed many state-funded corporations, which have become white elephants. PIA and CAA already face sanctions with the ban imposed by European Aviation Safety Agency in June 2020 and is still there even in 2023.
Commercial aviation is a highly regulated industry, and requires the most qualified talent available in the market, for any airline to survive and operate on all international routes. There is no place in an international airline for unqualified employees. It comes as a surprise that a parliamentary committee under MNA Mandukhel has ordered the reinstatement of over 800 such employees, who were terminated for submitting fake degree holders. Each employee was aware that his/her qualification was fake and a forgery, which is a serious crime punishable by imprisonment and a fine. This act of parliamentary committee basically regularizes a criminal act and will only encourage others to follow suit, because a precedent has been set. It is this mindset that has destroyed an airline of repute in Asia to an airline, which cannot fly to Europe. Credibility once lost, cannot be restored. It is time to put a stop to such illegalities.
IMRAN SHEIKH,
USA.
