ISLAMABAD: The Senate sub-committee on Aviation sought the forensic report on Friday, while summoning Rizwan Ahmed, who headed the investigation of fake flying licenses issued by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in the next meeting.

The sub-committee meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokar in which detail discussion took place regarding the fake flying licenses.

The committee inquired, investigated and fixed responsibility in the matter of alleged fake flying licenses issued by the CAA resulting in international airspace restrictions and embarrassment.

Members who attended were Senator Muhammad Asad Ali Khan Junejo and Senator Sajjad Hussain Turi. Senior officers from the Ministry of Aviation and the Pakistan Airlines Pilots Association (PALPA) were present as well.

The committee was informed that in 2018 scrutiny of the pilot examination records by the Aviation Division and the CAA revealed that discrepancies existed between the result sheets generated by the examination software and the attendance sheets generated by the examination were held on the days that pilots were actually not registered/scheduled for the test; exams were taken on holidays, and in quite a few cases conducted outside the working hours.

The committee was informed that an inquiry was conducted by a five-member team headed by PNSC chairman Rizwan Ahmed.

The PALPA informed the committee that during the course of investigation, none of the PALPA's members were heard.

It was revealed that of all the l41 licences that were declared fake, there are 35 names, which were not part of the PIA network. At least 20 are those who were never enrolled by the PIA, 25 were those with wrong reference numbers, and 45 were those cases that were manipulated with regards to the Civil Aviation Rules and Regulations (CARRS), details of which would be provided to the Committee.

Members of the committee were of the view that in order to get to the root of the matter, it was essential that the forensic report be submitted to the committee.

It was asserted that details of the software designer and those who operated the software must be submitted to the committee to ensure that no tampering of data occurred.

It was asserted forensic experts must be invited to read and interpret the report.

The PALPA was directed to submit their case in writing and all evidence to the committee.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020