THE presence of Walton Airport in the heart of Lahore has been a topic of hot discussion. Yet little has been said with regard to the dangers that fliers, especially trainee pilots, could pose to the residential areas that have cropped up around the airport over the 80 years of its existence. The debate has focused on the ownership of the 'prime' land the airport is spread over. Popular calls for relocating Walton have picked up after a two-seater aircraft crashed into a house in the nearby Model Town on Thursday, killing a flying instructor and her student. A Punjab government official says the accident is likely to give greater purpose to the government's efforts to reclaim the land from the Civil Aviation Authority. Punjab had been mildly insistent on this point; however, the question is whether its position can lead to a resolution of an issue that has engaged many parties over long years.

Punjab owns more than half the land currently occupied by the airport — land it had rented out to the CAA under a lease that has expired. Then there are individuals claiming a share in the remaining acres — just as there are theories that the Walton land could provide for the natural expansion of two adjacent housing societies of the army and PAF. Aspersions have been cast as to what the Punjab government intends to do with the land if and when it manages to retrieve it. There is also the issue of where the flying clubs that operate out of Walton would be relocated. Perhaps matters would be less complicated if the provincial government were to commit to using the land for the greater common good rather than exposing it to the usual commercial activity. A park, for instance, may have a better chance of meeting the public's approval.