The Supreme Appellate Court (SAC) of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) issued earlier yesterday non-bailable arrest warrants for Shaheen Air International’s deputy managing director for not showing up in the court of law.
The decision was taken by a full bench headed by Chief Judge Justice Rana Muhammad Shamim while hearing a suo-moto notice on operation of flights between Gilgit and Skardu.
The SAC, which is the apex court of G-B, said it could direct the government to suspend Shaheen air flights for an indefinite period if its deputy MD Faisal Rafiq failed to appear in the court in the next hearing on Friday.
During the hearing, PIA representatives assured the court the airline would operate flights to Skardu from March 28, for which reservation of seats was in progress.
Four additional flights between Islamabad-Skardu and Gilgit would also be started in compliance with the court orders, PIA officials added.
Meanwhile, a representative of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) should be provided land for fuel storage in Gilgit and Skardu.
Deputy Attorney General Javed Akhtar, Advocate General Sher Madad, Deputy Secretary Aviation Farooq Hasan and Obaid Abbasi were also present in the court besides PIA Sales Manager Muhammad Raza.
This decision is a follow-up of the SAC’s 2015 order in which it directed the PIA and CAA to begin flights between Gilgit and Skardu on an urgent basis in order to facilitate the passengers.
The court had also served show-cause notices to two private airlines, i.e. Shaheen and Airblue, for not appearing in the hearing of the suo motu case over not operating flights between Islamabad and G-B.
