Aviation ministry orders to ground 'martyred pilots' over dubious licenses  

KARACHI: In what appeared to be an action carried out in haste, the Aviation Ministry has included names of two martyred pilots in its official communique, demanding to ground them over possessing dubious licenses, ARY NEWS reported.

According to details available with the ARY NEWS, the names of two pilots who died in a plane crash involving Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-661 in 2016 were also included in the list of pilots to be grounded over suspicious licenses.

They included Captain of the plane Saleh Janjua and First Officer Ahmed Mansoor Janjua, who held a public-private license (PPL).

The PIA flight PK-661 crashed near Havelian on the way to Islamabad from Chitral resulting in the death of 48 passengers and crew including famous singer-cum-religious preacher Junaid Jamshed. The authorities had blamed technical fault for the crash.

The list of pilots issued by the aviation division carried the name of First Officer Ahmed Mansoor Janjua on 97th number.

Moreover, the Chief Operating Officer of the PIA, Air Marshal Arshad Malik has also written a letter to the Aviation Division, saying that they had implemented a communique calling for grounding action against pilots.

Read More: CAA reluctant to take action against PIA pilots possessing ‘fake licences’: sources

He, however, said that some serious anomalies were highlighted in the issued list with respect to the names of pilots, the airline they are serving, reference, and personal numbers of the pilots.

He asked them to rectify the errors and provide an error-free list by Monday (June 29).

It is pertinent to mention here that the Aviation Division has declared licenses of 160 pilots from national flag-carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Airblue and SereneAir ‘suspicious’ and ordered the management of the airlines to immediately ground the aviates.

The suspicious pilots include 141 from PIA, nine from Airblue, and 10 from SereneAir.