LAHORE    -  A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane was held back in Malaysia as part of a legal dispute between the airline and another party, the national flag carrier said on Friday.

The Boeing 777 aircraft was seized after a court order, the airline said, and alternative arrangements were being made for passengers due to fly from Kuala Lumpur back to Pakistan.

The case involved a $14 million lease dispute, a PIA official said. In a statement posted on Twitter, the airline said: “A PIA aircraft has been held back by a local court in Malaysia taking a one-sided decision pertaining to a legal dispute between PIA and another party pending in a UK court.

“The passengers are being looked after and alternate arrangements for their travel have been finalised,” the statement said. “It is an unacceptable situation and PIA has engaged support from the government of Pakistan to take up this matter using diplomatic channels.”

“We were told that the plane has been impounded on a court order,” PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan said later in a video statement. “PIA’s legal team will pursue it in the Malaysian court, and we hope that we will resolve this issue as soon as possible.”

Commenting on the legal dispute, Khan told that it was a “payment dispute between us and the party Peregrine” that had been filed in the UK courts about six months ago.

The spokesperson refused to give further details on the dispute, adding, that the Malaysian court took an “ex-parte decision causing inconvenience to the passengers who had already boarded the plane”.

According to orders passed by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Thursday , the plaintiff of the case is Peregrine Aviation Charlie Limited and the matter pertains to two jets leased to PIA by Dublin-based AerCap, the world’s largest aircraft lessor, in 2015.

They are part of a portfolio that AerCap sold to Peregrine Aviation Co Ltd, an investment unit of NCB Capital, the brokerage arm of National Commercial Bank SJSC, in 2018.

According to the interim injunction, PIA is restrained from moving two aircraft in its fleet — a Boeing 777- 200ER with serial number 32716 and a Boeing 777- 200ER with serial number 32717 — once they have landed or parked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport until a further hearing on the matter later this month.

Tracking data from Flightradar24 showed only one of the two Boeing 777s covered by the court order is currently in Kuala Lumpur. The other was last recorded in Karachi last month. AerCap, which continued as part of the agreement to provide lease management services to Peregrine, declined to comment.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, the country’s airport operator, and its subsidiary were ordered to make sure the aircraft do not leave Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport said in a statement on Friday that the aircraft was being held pending legal proceedings set for January 24.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd said the matter was not related to airport operations.

In response to a question about the issue, Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry said the Pakistani High Commission in Malaysia was in close contact with the relevant Malaysian authorities and PIA “to address the issue at the earliest”.

“Meanwhile, the passengers are being properly looked after and alternate arrangements for their travel to Pakistan have also been finalised,” he said, adding, that they will be departing Kuala Lumpur by Emirates flight EK-343 later tonight.

Pakistani High Commissioner in Malaysia Amna Baloch,  said PIA’s legal experts would deal with the situation. She said the High Commission would provide all necessary assistance to the airline to resolve the matter.

She said the passengers due to fly on the impounded aircraft were being provided with all possible facilities.

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz Friday criticised opposition parties for damaging image of the national institutions.

The Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had ruled the country for three decades but paid no heed to improve the performance of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and other organisations, he said while talking to a private news channel.

The opposition parties particularly PPP and PML-N made political appointments in the PIA, PSM and other institutions during their regimes, he lamented adding the misuse of powers was a major factor of the set back in different national entities.

He said out of the merit inductions had damaged image of the national institutions besides economy.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government, he said, was taking hard decisions to bring institutional reforms for achieving better performance.

Regarding impounding PIA plane in Malaysia, Shibli expressed his astonishment and said the Pakistan embassy and a team of PIA were engaged in collecting the details.

The minister said after a probe, he would be able to give exact details about the incident in a couple of days. He said the incumbent government was taking all possible steps for restoring soft image of the national entities through institutional reforms.