A observe saying, “Thanks, PIA (Pakistan Worldwide Airways),” was present in a Toronto resort room after a search.
An appreciation observe, like this, is what a flight attendant would look forward to finding from a flyer after a pleasant and cosy flight.
Nonetheless, the observe saying, ‘Thanks, PIA’, was really written by an air hostess, and never a glad flyer.
The observe was from Maryam Raza, who labored with the PIA and had landed in Toronto on a flight from Islamabad on Monday (February 26) however did not report for obligation on her return flight to Karachi a day later.
When authorities in search of Maryam opened her resort room, they discovered her PIA uniform with the ‘Thanks, PIA’ observe, reported Daybreak.
Maryam Raza is not the lone instance of a PIA crew member touchdown in Canada and vanishing into skinny air. The truth is, she was simply following a development.
Maryam’s disappearance comes only a month after PIA flight attendant Faiza Mukhtar’s disappearance in Canada in January 2024.
Faiza Mukhtar, who was rostered to fly again to Karachi a day after touchdown in Canada “didn’t board the flight and disappeared”, mentioned PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan.
PIA CREW MEMBERS SEEKING CANADA ASYLUM SINCE 2018
The disappearances of crew members, Maryam and Faiza, really observe a worrying development for the PIA, which is itself battling monetary and credibility losses.
The disappearance of Maryam marks the second such occasion in 2024.
It is most likely not the PIA that Jacqueline Kennedy referred to as, “Nice individuals to fly with”, in 1962. That has grow to be the slogan of PIA since then.
The truth is, Pakistan is not the identical Pakistan of the 60s. Surviving on loans from the Worldwide Financial Fund (IMF) and worldwide doles, Pakistan has seen file mind drain in 2023. Uncertain about their future in Pakistan, expert professionals have been leaving the Islamic Republic in hordes.
The development of Pakistani flight attendants disappearing after crewing a flight to Canada began again in 2019 and has picked up just lately, in accordance with aviation information web site Easy Flying.
Nonetheless, The Media Line, a ‘Mideast ‘-based information web site, claims to have acquired details about PIA flight attendants searching for asylum in Canada and different international locations as early as 2018.
7 PIA CABIN CREW MEMBERS ‘VANISHED’ IN CANADA IN 2023
Final yr, 2023, a minimum of seven flight attendants of the PIA are mentioned to have disappeared after touchdown in Canada, in accordance with media reviews.
Two PIA cabin crew members, who landed in Toronto from Lahore’s Allama Iqbal Worldwide did not report back to obligation for his or her flight again house in December 2023, in accordance with PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan.
“The flight was on its scheduled return to Islamabad, the steward didn’t present up in Toronto. The flight of the nationwide flag provider needed to return to Islamabad with out the crew members,” mentioned spokesperson Khan.
PIA crew members, Ayaz Qureshi, Khalid Afridi and Fida Hussain Shah reportedly slipped away after touchdown in Canada, in November and December 2023.
PIA BLAMES WOES ON CANADA’S ‘LIBERAL’ ASYLUM POLICY
“The rationale for this [disappearance] is a very liberal asylum and asylum programme of the Canadian authorities,” PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan advised ArabNews in November 2023.
Khan mentioned 4 PIA cabin crew members disappeared in the identical manner in 2022, whereas 4 extra managed to fade in 2023.
Whereas the PIA officers level to Canada’s relaxed asylum norms, specialists consider the low salaries of crew and lingering concern of the airline’s future, are prompting the crew members to flee after touchdown in Canada, somewhat than coming again house.
The cash-starved PIA’s privatisation was authorized by Pakistan’s caretaker cupboard in February, two days earlier than the elections in Pakistan, as a measure to revamp the loss-making airline, reported information company PTI.
The annual common of Pakistani flight attendants who’ve slipped into Canada is 5, reported SamaaTV. The employment interval of PIA staff, who requested political asylum in Canada after slipping in 5 years, is 15 to 17 years, whereas their age is 35 to 40 years, added the report.
Talking on the repercussions confronted by the absconding crew members, PIA spokesperson Khan mentioned, “We usually terminate the providers of such people and penalize them by denying them of any advantages”.
PIA FLIGHT ATTENDANT HELPING OTHERS SEEK ASYLUM
A flight attendant, Mahira, who disappeared after touchdown in Toronto in 2018, supplied authorized help to Fareha Mukhtar when she utilized for asylum, reported TheMediaLine in January 2024.
A crew member who went lacking a number of years in the past has settled in Canada and is now “providing steerage” to fellow crew members contemplating searching for asylum, added PIA spokesperson Khan.
Nonetheless, PIA spokesperson Abdullah Hafeez Khan tried to downplay the severity of the development in December 2023, saying, “Crews searching for asylum are widespread all through South Asia and different creating international locations, due to this fact this example just isn’t unique to PIA.”
Nonetheless, that justification is not a face-saver for officers of Pakistan Worldwide Airways. “The nationwide airline’s administration has to face embarrassment from Canadian authorities over such incidents of escape,” an unnamed PIA official advised Pakistan-based SamaaTV.
It’s really mid-senior members of the airline who’re searching for asylum in Canada. Maryam, the PIA attendant to go lacking on Monday (February 26), labored with the PIA for 15 years.
Pakistan is seeing record-high inflation due to a tattered economic system and political instability. It is not uncommon for its residents to be in search of higher prospects overseas. Whoever can, tries to fly out of the mess. The PIA cabin crew members can a minimum of fly out freed from value.
