ISLAMABAD: The European Union Air Safety Agency (EASA) has suspended authorization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to fly to the block for six months, the airline said on Tuesday, in a major blow to the country’s flag carrier.
Separately, the safety agency said it took action because of concerns about the country’s ability to ensure compliance with international aviation standards at all times.
The suspension follows runway 262 of Pakistan’s 860 state pilots – including 141 of 434 PIAs – whose licenses are called by the aviation minister “dubious.”
“EASA has temporarily suspended PIA authorization to operate in EU member states for an effective six-month period of July 1, 2020 with the right to appeal,” the PIA said in a statement. He added that he would suspend all flights to Europe.
Confirming the move in a statement sent by e-mail, EASA was referring to a recent investigation by Pakistan that said it indicated “most” of pilot licenses were invalid.
The Pakistani pilot landed after an initial report on a PIA accident in Karachi that killed 97 people last month.
The PIA said it was in contact with EASA to take corrective action and appeal the decision, adding that it expected the suspension to be revoked “as early as possible” after action by the government and the airline.
EASA also suspended the authorization of another Pakistani airline, Vision Air International.
Vision Air International does not immediately respond to requests for comment via email.
Following the EASA decision, the British Civil Aviation Authority said it also withdrew PIA permits to operate from three airports, as required by law.
“PIA flights from Birmingham, London Heathrow and Manchester airports were suspended immediately,” a spokesman for the British authority told Reuters.
All three are the main flight destinations for airlines.
Meanwhile, Pakistani pilots and their union, the Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA), said there were differences in the list of government pilots with licenses that were considered dubious and demanded a court investigation.
PIA and private airline Air Blue also questioned the list with PIA saying 36 of its pilots were said to have retired or left the airline, while Air Blue said it no longer employs seven of the nine pilots on the list.
“It contains the names of highly educated and quality pilots who have passed all the tests,” PALPA president Chaudhry Salman told Reuters. “We want a fair and impartial resolution to this issue.”
An official at the Pakistani aviation ministry, Abdul Sattar Khokhar, said they did not have full details about the differences. “This problem is being resolved through consultation with airlines and civil aviation authorities.”

KARACHI: Every year before the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, hundreds of Pakistanis visit the Shaikh Rafi shop on busy MA Jinnah Road in Karachi to buy prayer mats and ihram clothes, two pieces of cloth worn by Muslims during the hajj.

But not this year. Since last month’s announcement by Saudi authorities that the pilgrimage will be limited to several thousand pilgrims living in the Kingdom, to prevent the spread of coronaviruses, Rafi has spent days cleaning dust from unsold items as he anxiously waits for customers who never arrive . .

“This has been our routine for the past few months,” said Rafi, whose shop is in the Karachi Allahwala Market.

The plan for around 2.5 million Muslims around the world was canceled when this year’s pilgrimage was dramatically lowered. In Pakistan, nearly 180,000 people canceled their trips, and its influence on the country’s hajj industry 160 billion rupees ($ 1 billion) was devastating. Rafi’s shop is only one of at least 5,000 small businesses in Karachi that have been severely affected.

“Because of the Kingdom’s decision to postpone Umrah flights and limit hajj, almost all related businesses experienced a decline in sales,” he said. “We opened our shop hoping someone would come but that day ended without customers.

Wholesaler Muhammad Rizwan said: “Under normal circumstances, ordinary people buy prayer mats and hats, before or after performing the hajj or umrah, as gifts for their relatives and friends – but since they have been locked, the industry has been completely shut down.”

Traders said it was not only the lack of sales that caused the problem, but also delayed payments.

“There has been no business for about the past five months and our payments from retailers and shop owners who have bought on credit have been put on hold,” said Muhammad Hanif Katlia, a wholesale supplier of ihram clothing. “Many shopkeepers have failed to pay (because of their bills) and have not paid rent, and many have fled without paying what is due.”

Some factories that produce goods for the Hajj and Umrah industries have been forced to close down completely, work costs, while others have switched to producing other goods.

“Production has been stopped for the past five months and we have laid off workers,” said Jannat Gul, whose business produces ihram clothing and other hajj-related products. “There is no buying and selling, and borrowers have not paid back what they owe since Umrah was suspended because of a coronavirus.”

This year is the first time in the modern era that pilgrims from other countries are not permitted to enter Mecca. According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, which oversees the country’s hajj arrangements, 179,210 Pakistanis have registered to attend this year: 71,684 with private tour operators and 107,526 through cheaper packages, supported by the government.

KARACHI: Inspired by a project in Jeddah, a city agent in Karachi, Pakistan’s seaside metropolitan city in the Arabian Sea, plans to turn the coastal environment into a recreational area, open and free to the public, officials told Arab News.

In April last year, a member of the Clifton Cantonment Council (CBC) visited the Jeddah Waterfront resort project, part of the Jeddah Corniche, a 30-kilometer coastal resort area along the Red Sea. They held consultations with Saudi city authorities to transform the Sea View area along 2.83 kilometers of Karachi into a more friendly space, where visitors can enjoy modern facilities.

“There will be no walls. This will be a truly open space, accessible to all, “CBC spokeswoman Amir Ali told Arab News, adding that entry will be free.

“The beach that we have currently doesn’t offer much to visitors who come here from all over Pakistan or abroad. CBC authorities realized that we had to have the best beach, complete with all the necessary facilities. ”

He added: “This is a non-commercial project built with limited resources, but will offer maximum recreation.”

The provincial government in Sindh says Karachi’s modernization and beauty are part of the main goal of revitalizing Pakistan’s largest city and economic power, which has long been disrupted by traffic congestion, poor infrastructure and road transportation, lack of water and electricity, and rampant crime. But politicization by local parties and disputes between various levels of government have long hampered Karachi’s growth for decades and continued to hold back development.

In this context, the resort project, called “Beautifying Clifton Beach,” is not an easy task.

This project consists of two main parts. You will start at the Nishan-e-Pakistan monument and end at the Chanki Manki amusement park. It will have footpaths, jogging trails, green areas, seven restaurants built of wood, two emergency rescue rooms and four public conveniences.

The second part, starting from Chanki Manki, will end at the Village restaurant. It will have a food court, a warung, a yoga place, three guard towers, a garden, a magical park, a reading area, a playground for children, prayer facilities, and a beach deck.

According to the CBC, the project is environmentally friendly and has received a certificate from the Sindh Environment Agency.

“The project is planned taking into account environmental aspects, so that no high-rise construction will be involved,” CBC Ali said, adding that 70 percent of the area will be green, covered with grass, mangrove forests and miswak trees, with vegetation functioning as buffer between the main road and the beach. This will also help prevent sand from entering the residential area.

“Over the past decade, many countries in the world, including Saudi Arabia, have developed their beaches and turned them into good recreational areas,” he said. “We also aim to do the same thing.”

ISLAMABAD: A 103-year-old man has recovered from COVID-19 in Pakistan to become one of the oldest survivors of the disease in the world, beating the odds in a country with a weak health care system, relatives and doctors said.
Aziz Abdul Alim, a resident of a village in the northern Chitral mountainous district, was released last week from the emergency response center after being tested positive in early July.
“We are worried about him considering his age, but he is not at all worried,” Alim’s son Sohail Ahmed told Reuters by telephone from his village, close to Pakistan’s borders with China and Afghanistan.
Ahmed quoted his father as saying that he had been through many things in life and the corona virus did not scare him. But he, does not like being in isolation.
A carpenter until his 70s, Alim has outlived three wives and nine sons and daughters, said Ahmed, himself in his 50s, adding that his father had separated from his fourth wife and is currently married to his fifth daughter. .
Alim must also be given moral and psychological support during his isolation and treatment, said Dr. Sardar Nawaz, a senior medical officer at the Aga Khan Health Services emergency center, told Reuters on Friday.
The emergency center was set up in the women’s dormitory only a few weeks before Alim was brought in and was the only one equipped to deal with COVID-19 patients remotely.
Pakistan has registered more than 270,000 cases of illness and 5,763 deaths. While the number of people who tested positive has declined over the past month, government officials fear there will be another increase during the Muslim religious festival Eid al-Adha, which falls on August 1.