THE board of inquiry constituted by the secretary, civil aviation, in January 2019 to investigate the alleged malpractices in the conduct of pilots’ exams concluded that the licences of 262 Pakistani pilots were invalid as their exams were ‘fake’. This report remained buried and no meaningful action was taken against the pilots and those who issued them fake licences.

Then came the May 22, 2020, crash of PIA flight 8303 in Karachi in which 97 people died. It later surfaced that the pilots had disregarded three instructions of air traffic control where they were asked to adjust the flight altitude and to abandon their landing. While landing, the pilots did not lower the landing gear — an inconceivable mistake by any standard. The plane eventually crashed into a densely populated area which is also a rare occurrence. Despite all this, Pakistan escaped serious international criticism.

What has Pakistan done to address concerns relating to its aviation industry in the last 12 months?

On June 24, 2020, one month after the air crash, Civil Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan apparently decided to make political mileage out of the crash in his 40-minute speech in the National Assembly in which he confessed that out of a total of 860 pilot licences issued by the Pakistani Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) 262 were fake. The minster switched to pure political rhetoric and stated that the state institutions were politicised, merit was grossly violated, people were hired for political considerations without caring for the consequences, fake degrees and fake pilot licences were awarded. He said, “We cannot face the world as out of 860, 262 pilot licences are fake which is almost 30 per cent of the total”.

This damning political speech was meant for the domestic audience only but was picked up by major international media organisations which the government had not anticipated. CNN’s headline thus read, “Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licences, aviation minister says”. As things started to heat up, PIA made the situation worse which CNN reported as “‘PIA acknowledges that fake licences is not just a PIA issue but spread across the entire Pakistani airline industry,’ spokesperson Abdullah Khan said, adding that some of the fake pilots also fly for foreign carriers.”

On June 30, 2020, EASA, the European Union regulator that decides which airline can or cannot come to any European Union destination, stopped PIA from entering any EU country for six months citing PIA’s safety concerns. Although, EASA was already reviewing PIA’s safety management systems this abrupt ban was a consequence of the aviation minister’s admission speech which EASA quoted extensively in its letter while conveying its ban to PIA. Simultaneously, the UK and US also banned PIA. The holders of pilot licences issued by CAA working in other countries were grounded and the aviation authorities of those countries started contacting CAA for reverification of at least 104 such licences.

The crash was a national tragedy for Pakistan. It, however, turned into international humiliation when the government mixed domestic politics with complex international law and treaty issues. Undoubtedly, the CAA and PIA face challenges of the most serious nature but they require correction and not mud-slinging before the whole world. EASA and ICAO and some other national aviation authorities seem convinced that the CAA is unable to properly regulate its operators and to manage its pilot licensing system. Has Pakistan done everything to address those concerns in the last 12 months?

The hallmark of an efficient and robust regulatory authority is its independence from the government. The Pakistani government, however, has the legal authority to issue binding policy directives to the CAA and to decide what constitutes policy. The secretary, civil aviation — a civil servant — is always the chairman of the board of CAA and since 2018, has also remained the acting director general, CAA. After the air crash, the then secretary, civil aviation, continued as secretary, civil aviation, chairman of the board of CAA, acting DG of CAA and a member of the board of PIA.

Eventually, an action the government should have taken was taken by the Islamabad High Court in November 2020 when the court held that secretary, civil aviation, could not be acting CAA DG. The government argued that out of 600 candidates for the position of DG, it could not find even one eligible person for that post. The government then appointed DG CAA, retired Flt-Lt Khaqan Murtaza, a grade-21 officer of the Pakistan Administrative Service who was previously principal secretary to the governor of Sindh and before that the managing director of the Utility Stores Corporation of Pakistan. The new DG does not seem to have the experience or background to surmount the grave international challenges that the CAA is facing.

The CAA is not independent by any stretch of the imagination. Out of the six directors on its board, five are serving civil servants and the sixth an officer of the Pakistan Air Force. No director on the CAA board has noteworthy civil aviation experience. There are 11 members of the board of PIA. Out of 11, three are serving federal secretaries, one a retired federal secretary, and one a retired air force officer who is also its CEO. Out of the six private sector board members only two seem to have any airline experience.

The number of fake licences issued by CAA is abnormally high. No bureaucrat from EASA would run the risk of allowing PIA in EU fearing that in case of a mishap EASA would be blamed. PIA had proposed to EASA the resumption of its flights with a crew licensed by a regulator other than CAA. This suggestion was turned down by EASA as both EASA and ICAO believe that the CAA has not been able to effectively identify the root cause of its problems and to deal with them in a sustainable manner.

As EASA extends its ban on PIA indefinitely, Pakistan sticks to its decision of keeping its civil aviation sector a playground for its privileged bureaucrats — both retired and serving.

The writer is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Twitter: @MansoorHassanK3

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2021