THE CAA has published an advertisement for the recruitment of chief of security. The qualifications and experience mentioned in the advertisement is devoid of transparency.

Although it makes no mention of preference to armed forces officers, it is so framed that it points towards retired armed forces officers of the rank of brigadier/air commodore/commodore.

The parameters of aviation security are totally different than the normal security environment of armed forces installations.

Since the requirement is primarily to cater aviation security concerning airports and its installations and surrounding areas, surprisingly there is no mention of aviation security anywhere in the advertisement.

In fact, the CAA has plenty of experienced officers who are well-equipped with the knowledge of aviation security. This slot could have been filled by senior regular officers of the CAA who are competent, expert and qualified in this field.

Unfortunately, the CAA has been overloaded with deputationists comprising retired/serving air force officers, thus denying the rights of senior regular officers who are more experienced and highly trained in their respective fields.

There is definite need for the ministry of defence to look into this discrepancy. Why advertise posts for which the human resource is available and unnecessarily create frustration among the regular officers. Such unwise decisions have proved futile in the past and would meet the same fate now.

It ultimately ends up in harming the institution and putting financial burden on the CAA which must be avoided at all costs.

MUKHTAR AHMED
Karachi