4 missing PIA employees were found after the Joint Action Committee had given a 36-hour deadline for their recovery.
According to details, the four missing employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) were found in different area’s of the city including Nagan Chowrangi, where they had been left by unidentified persons.
The PIA Joint Action Committee had given a 36-hour deadline for the recovery of their missing colleagues. On 2nd February, four PIA employees who had been present at the airport protest, went missing.
The released persons said government was nervous and they were responsible for all difficulties being faced by passengers.
The Joint Action Committee had issued a warning that if the missing employees were not found, they would carry out a protest march till Jinnah terminal.
The incident comes in the backdrop of the PIA protest strike, which has caused losses worth billions of rupees to the national treasury. Employees of the national flag carrier have taken to the streets and protested against the privatisation of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
PIA operations 'partially' resumed
After remaining suspended for six days because of the employees’ strike, PIA flight operations partially resumed on Sunday when the airline’s two Boeing aircraft brought home 725 pilgrims stranded in Saudi Arabia.
Two more planes took off from Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport for Jeddah on Sunday night to bring back the remaining pilgrims. Another flight (PK-211) left for Dubai in the evening.
The airline’s ATR flight with four people on board landed at the Gilgit airport and returned to Islamabad with the passengers stranded there. One domestic and four international flights were operated from Lahore, but operations from other airports of the country could not resume.
However, PIA employees voiced concerns that proper safety protocol had not been followed to put the planes in the air.
PIA engineers warned the management against operating flights without ensuring the aircraft’s maintenance protocols as it may cause serious safety hazards.
The Society of Aircraft Engineers of Pakistan said: “The PIA management is forcing the engineers to release the aircraft without accomplishment of the prerequisites which are mandatory as per ICAO and PCAA regulations. The safety of passengers and the aircraft itself is being jeopardised. Inspections and components’ replacement issues are being waived off by PCAA Pakistan under pressure by the government officials,”
PIA employees get warning letter
On Sunday night, a warning letter about the application of the Pakistan Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1952, was delivered to striking employees to make them aware that their strike was illegal, PIA spokesman Daniyal Gilani said.
The employees protesting against the government move to privatise the national flag carrier had rejected the Act after it was imposed on Feb 2, and threatened to bring the flight operations to a standstill.
The letter says the law envisages serious penalties, including dismissal from service and imprisonment for a maximum period of one year along with a fine, for the protesting employees. The Act has been imposed for six months.
The employees were advised in the letter to refrain from indulging in any activity tantamount to an offence under the Act, failing which they might become liable for prosecution in court, besides facing disciplinary action under the corporation’s rules.
Privatisation of PIA
The National Assembly on January 21 witnessed the passage of six bills, including one to convert the national flag carrier into a public limited company.
Under the bill, Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) is to be converted into a public limited company as Pakistan International Airlines Company Limited (PIACL).
The government plans to split the ailing national flag carrier PIA into two companies and sell the control of its core business to a global airline, but the opposition to the sell-off has been intense.
Although the government has assured PIA employees that no one will be laid off after privatisation, PIA employees insist the government accept their four-point agenda and put off privatisation.
