KARACHI, Dec 17: Most domestic and international flights of Pakistan International Airlines originating from the metropolis have no air guards on board to ensure in-flight security to passengers and air crew against hijacking and other terrorist activities, Dawn has learnt.

Sources said that air guards used to travel on all of the flag carrier’s international and domestic flights until a couple of years ago. However, at present air guards are deployed only on certain international flights travelling to destinations considered ‘threatened stations’, including Mumbai, Delhi, Kabul, and Kathmandu, the sources added.

Foreign carriers usually have guards from their respective countries on board flights flying into and out of Karachi.

As far as domestic flights of the Pakistan International Airlines are concerned, air guards provide in-flight security to passengers and crew of the ATR planes only, which are smaller in size and mostly serve destinations on Pakistan’s coast. All other domestic flights travelling between major cities, including those of private Pakistani airlines, have no air guards on board, the sources said.

Airport Security Force sources said that no amount of ground security measures could guarantee one hundred per cent results against hijacking, particularly when Pakistan, like many other countries, had become a victim of terrorism. Though the standard of security of airports has been appreciated by foreign agencies such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the American Federal Aviation Administration and the International Air Transport Association in the past, the deployment of highly-proficient sharpshooters – commonly known as air guards – trained by officers of the Pakistan Army’s Special Service Group had been limited to certain flights, they said.

When contacted, ASF officials, though confirming that car parks, public areas, the terminal building, apron and perimeter were fully protected with the latest equipment and highly trained personnel, they preferred to keep mum over the question of in-flight security.

They said that five under-vehicle inspection systems built by ASF engineers had been put up at the entry gates of the Jinnah International Airport, while the sixth UVIS was being installed to keep out unwanted motorists.

They further said that in addition to making good use of modern X-ray screening machines, metal and explosive detection systems, latest communications devices, riot control equipment and closed-circuit TV cameras, ASF security personnel frisked passengers and crew members before allowing them entry into an aircraft. The officials also said that before take-off, planes were thoroughly searched by the personnel of different agencies to ensure fool-proof security.

However, ASF spokesman Major Imtiaz Ali Khan avoided discussing the issue when he was approached to comment on why air guards were withdrawn from the national flag carrier. “I am not supposed to answer your queries,” he said.

Hijack threat

The sources said that the need for training of air guards and their deployment on all flights was felt after a PIA plane flying from Karachi to Peshawar on March 2, 1981, was hijacked by three armed men. The hijackers diverted the flight to Kabul where they released some hostages and gunned down a diplomat before taking the plane to the Syrian capital of Damascus.

They initially demanded the release of 92 prisoners, coming down to 55, besides asylum for themselves and their friends. It was only after the Zia government agreed to their demands and Syria announced that it would take in the prisoners and the hijackers that the gunmen gave up.

Sensing the heightened security requirements after this incident, the ASF, which was established in 1976 as a directorate of the civil aviation department, was placed under the ministry of defence in December 1983. Finally in 1984, the force was subjected to the Pakistan Army Act.

This was not the only hijacking case as on September 5, 1986, a Pan American flight carrying around 379 passengers was hijacked in Karachi. At least 21 people were killed during the deadly hijacking, for which a Jordanian national was convicted by a court in 2004.

However, since the deployment of air guards on flights no such case happened again. The effective deterrence that air guards provided, until they were pulled from flights, was manifested when air guards foiled a midair assassination bid by killing the assailants who targeted a Pakistan People’s Party MNA (Ilyas Ahmad Jatt) on board a PIA flight (PK-675) just as it took off from Islamabad bound for Faisalabad.

For reasons best known to the authorities concerned, the service was suspended on Jan 1, 1998 and it was in May the same year that a Fokker plane that originated from Turbat was hijacked. Though the hijackers could not succeed in their plan to divert the flight to Jodhpur, India, and the pilot managed to land at Hyderabad airport, the importance of in-flight security was reemphasised by the incident.

Perhaps it was for this reason that after the events of September 11, 2001, the government decided to revive the air guard service on all domestic and international flights. In July 2002, the first batch of air guards, comprising 52 well-trained personnel, including nine women, were taken on board as part of a plan to secure flights.

Commercial concerns?

However, ASF sources said that the service could not continue because the national airline had some financial reservations. The travel allowances that were offered to air guards and seats being spared for them were cited as the sole reason for the objections, they said, adding that since then the role of air guards had been limited to securing airports and just a few flights.

The PIA’s General Manager for Public Affairs, Syed Sultan Hasan, rejected the claims about the financial burden, saying that it was only the prerogative of the ministry of defence to decide whether or not the sharpshooter security guards of the ASF should be deployed on flights. However, he did confirm that air guards were travelling on four international flights – Mumbai, Delhi, Kathmandu and Kabul – and domestic flights destined to the coastal and northern areas. He was of the view that infallible ground security at airports would leave little possibility for any untoward incident in the air.