Agreement between PIA and Turkish Airlines: RoD has no legal validity: defence secretary

''Record of Discussion'' (RoD) on proposed air agreement between Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) and Turkish Airlines (THY) is very much alive and under consideration of Ministry of Defence, said Secretary, Defence, Lieutenant General (Retd) Syed Athar Ali. He said: "The RoD, however, does not have legal validity, and is subject to approval of the Minister for Defence and Prime Minister".
He further said that the Managing Director of PIAC, Captain (Retd) Aijaz Haroon had breached the rules of business 1973 while entering into discussion and did RoD with Turkish Airlines without any authority. The ministry has initiated action under Essential Services Act and issued show-cause notices to PIAC MD for unauthorised discussion with Turkish Airliner, and two office-bearers of Pakistan Airlines'' Pilots Association (Pala) President Captain Suhail Baloch and General Secretary for making public statements regarding the issue.
Giving reference to current negotiations with PIAC Union, he said the representative of the unions were invited by the Ministry of Defence to negotiate at the level of Defence Ministry to settle the issue but they put condition of sacking the MD, abolition of deal with THY, restoration of sacked pilots and withdrawing of show cause notices issued to certain pilots prior starting negotiations.
Then, Managing Director PIA acknowledged that THK had proposed a code share arrangement which were being done by most of the airlines to increase profitability and enhance routes without incurring additional costs. "We can''t stop the Turkish to forward us proposal but we did not allow to operate extra flights", he said.
These revelations took place in National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence on Wednesday. In three-hour long heated discussion the committee members remained divided on calling the resignation from PIAC MD who was accused of creating such a mess that brought all flying operations in PIA to a halt. The committee members from ruling party and its alliance backed the PIAC MD and agreed that there were some procedural flaws committed by the MD while negotiating with THA, and it should be resolved amicably with Palpa by removing their apprehensions.
Members of opposition parties recommended to the Chairman of the Committee, Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, to ask PIAC MD to tender his resignation. Even at one point when debate got hot, PML-N member Mehtab Khan Abbasi boycotted the meeting of the committee when the committee chairman did not endorse his recommendations. He remarked that PIAC used to be the face of Pakistan but the day PIAC MD Aijaz Haroon had taken over, ''this beautiful face (PIA) of the country has turned ugly'' and he must resign on moral grounds. PML (Q) MNA Faisal Saleh Hayat also expressed the same sentiments regarding MD of the national flag carrier.
He said that the speech by Minister for Defence Ahmed Mukhtar on the floor of House was negating the explanations given by the MD in committee room. He warned the MD to keep the facts straight, or face the charges of forgery.
Fasial said the record of NA was available for rectification of the statement of the Minister for Defence in the House that the Board of PIAC did not authorise MD to discuss RoD with foreign airliners. But the MD claimed that he had the power to discuss the commercial and financial implications for PIA with Turkish and other airliners. Outside parliament, Faisal told this scribe that if the MD did not resign, the matter would be taken to Supreme Court. The committee postponed its proceedings to Thursday and called the representatives of all the unions of PIAC so that their views would be heard before making its recommendations.