Daily Times

Noor Sher, onboard a Pak-Toronto flight, joined the ever-increasing list of PIA employees making use of overseas assignments as an opportunity to seek asylum in favourable lands when he did not report for duty on the return flight.

While departmental action has been launched, similar protocols, in the past, did not yield any notable results. These curious cases abound due to a flexible and easily-approachable asylum policy in countries like Canada where flight attendants are slipping away in pursuit of greener pastures.

Of course, the noticeable increase follows the general trend with more and more Pakistani nationals seeking to escape challenges at home by hook or crook. Repeated instances of sinking trawler boats carrying illegal migrants speak volumes about the desperation of the vulnerable segments of society.

After all, it was only last June that a tragedy occurred off the Greek coast, engulfing an unbelievable 350 Pakistanis dreaming of making it big in Western societies. However, if the intelligence officials are hammering out collaborations with other countries to act against the menace of human trafficking, shouldn’t these episodes, which focus on the white-collared and their willingness to use whatever possible means and cross whatever boundaries to carry out their own agendas also be investigated?

As expected, the airline’s reputation is on the line here, thanks to as many as 14 deserters in the last year-and-a-half; prompting an alarm in the international community and pressure on the authorities to show their books. This trend has serious implications for the airline, its passengers, and the reputation of Pakistan as a whole.

The best way forward for the PIA would be to join hands with the Canadian government and ensure even stricter restrictions on flights being deemed hot potatoes.

Currently, PIA is trying to intimidate its employees into following the rules with the threat of immediate termination and zero support. Still, much more needs to be done to restore confidence in its operations. *