Daily Times

Some things are ominously inevitable. PIA flight ATR PK 611 was not just tragic but traumatic, as it was the result of the years of neglect and conflict. How can any organisation that has been in losses for years ever be competitive? How can any organisation that has been marked with constant strife with the government ever be vigilant? How can any organisation that has been led by people who are political appointees ever be dynamic? How can any organisation that has been living with the uncertainty of being up for sale ever be focused? And yet we expect PIA to fly, and fly high and safe. The saddest part is that its employees are the best pilots in the world; the best engineers in the world, along with the best maintenance and operations staff. However, the best turns to dust when politics destroys the culture and nepotism makes a mockery of merit.

PIA has suffered from an economic crash. The nose dive in its earnings is nothing new, and every year it survives on bailout funds from the budget. The reason given are that its planes are old, over staffed, and its service standards are apathetic. Being a national airline, it goes on routes that are unprofitable and it has a workforce that is unmanageable. But then, this is the same airline that helped make 36 of the top airlines in the world including Emirates and Singapore airline; it is the same airline whose pilots man the most sophisticated cockpits in international airlines in the world; and it is the same airline that despite all these hazards have a relatively better safety record. The root cause of all these problems is a culture of zero accountability where persistent bad performance is rewarded with other people’s money.

Post the ATR crash, Chairman PIA Azam Saigol resigned and is the third in the series to do so. The government makes a superficial attempt to turnaround PIA from time to time by involving capable individuals from the private sector but then gets in their way corrosively enough to force them to quit. This brings further despondency in the staff who just go through the motions of doing the job. This state of apathy harms all areas of an organisation. From booking to check-ins to flight punctuality to in-flight service, there has been a marked deterioration. When what is visible is suffering from a demotivated workforce, what is not visible i.e. maintenance, must be a victim of the same attitude.

While PIA is busy denying any wrongdoing with this plane, ATR 542 has a history of accidents. This aircraft had crash landed in Lahore back in 2009 when the pilot lost control of the plane after touchdown at Lahore airport. The flight was miraculously able to land back at Skardu safely with 60 people on board. CAA had then said that landing gear had malfunctioned. The plane had reportedly veered left off the runway, went across the runway and got stuck in soft ground. Seven passengers had then received minor injuries. However, the aeroplane had sustained substantial damage. Then, again on September 15, 2014, from Skardu to Islamabad, the same plane reported engine failure soon after it took off. The pilot had then reported that engine emitted a loud bang and flamed out. The crew had to shut the engine down and return to Skardu for a safe landing. They said that PIA had the engine replaced after the incident. These are not coincident, and they do not just deserve cursory inquiries rather serious investigations on why such accident-prone planes are kept running at the cost of precious lives.

When government organisations are treated as the personal property of the rulers, their efficiency and sustainability become immaterial. With a loss of Rs 33 billion last year and a cumulative loss of over Rs 150 billion, PIA is a financial nightmare. PIA is treated as a private jet at the disposal of the Sharif family and friends. The way a commercial flight of PIA was rerouted, cancelled for passengers, and then redecorated and redone to bring back the Prime Minister and his family from London this year, cost the taxpayers nearly half a billion rupees regarding revenue lost and expenses made. It is this attitude of confiscation of all public assets on will for personal use that has created a tradition of complete disregard of the importance of constitutional forums like the parliament. It is this attitude that has encouraged rampant nepotism in all government offices. It is this attitude that has made institutions crippled and redundant. It is this attitude that has encouraged provinces to role model the federal extravagance.

Chief Minster Punjab, inspired by the federal government, ordered an executive jet purchase for himself. A tender was floated for the purchase of a 12-seater jet of a specific foreign company. The market price of a brand new plane of this foreign make is stated to be $30 million (approximately Rs3 billion). This tender was floated in July for both a brand new jet plane and a second-hand one. The ‘direction’ is to buy a secondhand jet at around $20 million (Rs2 billion) and “save” the remaining amount. Most probably, the manufacturing company would be asked to look for an intending seller, and then supply the jet to the Punjab government. This money is nowhere in the allocated Punjab budget and thus has not been approved by the Punjab assembly which itself makes it illegal and unconstitutional.

Illegality is legal as institutions that are supposed to be keeping a vigilant eye on such wrong doings are also shareholders of this organised crime. The problem is that when immoral becomes moral, the social system collapses. The moral outrage that should follow such blatant display of hedonism is amiss in the country. For years they have seen this happening, and nobody has bothered to take them to the task. This has led to two things; One, that the public no longer feels that any amount of noise and protest will affect these hardened political con-men, and two, the almost aghast reaction of these politicians at being questioned on their abuse of public money. The ridiculous part is to see CM and the PM, after indulging in shopping sprees of public funds, express moral outrage and claim that democracy is in danger. Their definition of democracy is that once you somehow come through and election, nobody dares question your behaviour. The South Korean public recently impeached their President for not being transparent in her deals. In Pakistan, the same would be termed anarchy. It is this forced conversion of wrong into right that causes moral bankruptcy which in turn erodes development of a society and a nation.

The writer is a columnist and analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com