What a scandal

This refers to the editorial, 'Flying fiasco' ( July 17), about the public interest and international humiliation on the most irresponsible statement by the minister for aviation regarding the issue of pilots' licences. The question is: who provided the list of 262 pilots alleged to have fake and dubious licences? What a tragedy that this blunder managed to damage the reputation of PIA, our pilots and the country with a ban on PIA in the EU and other countries. And yet no head has rolled. Apart from IATA, the US Federal Aviation Administration announced on Wednesday that Pakistan has been assigned category 2 rating because it does not comply with the ICAO safety standards under the FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASAP).

No amount of letters, explanations, clarifications shall help wipe out the damage caused to PIA and pilots as concluded in the editorial. How will our well-respected experienced pilots regain their former status? And how will they be compensated? Finally, an inquiry should be ordered to find out who provided the wrong data to the minister that brought bad name to the country besides making pilots jobless as this is far more serious than the sugar, wheat and IPP scandals.

Mukhtar Ahmed

Karachi