Dance
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2010
- Messages
- 4,850
- Reaction score
- 0
LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-N angrily cancelled a visit by its chief Nawaz Sharif to Balochistan after a PIA flight Mr Sharif was to travel on was, according to the PML-N, delayed deliberately.
Following the cancellation of the tour, the party issued a strong statement, terming the delay “a conspiracy aimed at stopping PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif from going to Balochistan and keeping him away from (the) Baloch brethren”.
The PIA, however, denied any conspiracy behind the delay. The flight did finally take off three hours behind schedule at 1pm without Mr Sharif who had “opted to stay put at Lahore”.
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, a PML-N member of the National Assembly and the organiser of the tour, wondered why a flight which was to originate in Lahore was rerouted to run between Islamabad and Lahore before it set off for Quetta. He also wondered what technical checkups it was detained for in Islamabad.
Since the PML-N was “not given any plausible reason for the delay and the re-routing”, it could not explain it any other way but to view it as an “attempt to hamper Mr Sharif’s tour”.
Explaining why the tour was cancelled, Sardar Sadiq said even if Mr Sharif had chosen to board the flight when it finally took off, too much time had already been lost: the PML-N quaid would have missed half of the activities planned in Balochistan.
Nawaz Sharif was to meet Baloch nationalist leaders as part of his avowed aim to bring them into the mainstream of Pakistani politics. From Quetta, he was to fly to Karachi on Thursday to meet some other nationalist leaders from Balochistan.
“The flight was delayed deliberately, forcing cancellation of the tour,” Sardar Sadiq said.
A PIA press release later in the day, however, maintained that its foremost concern was the safety of its passengers. “The PIA flight PK-323… for the sector Lahore-Quetta was delayed due to technical reasons,” the statement said.
“The aircraft had to go through repair and a thorough check-up at Islamabad airport where earlier the aircraft had a ‘bird-hit’ incident. All passengers were informed about the flight delay after which some passengers decided to cancel their…
reservation.”
Without naming Mr Sharif, a PIA spokesman told Dawn the airline or the government had “no motive to delay the flight” contrary to the claims by “some passengers”. “(The) impression of intentional delay by ‘certain quarters’ is baseless and misleading,” he said.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/09/nawazs-flight-to-balochistan-fails-to-take-off.html
Following the cancellation of the tour, the party issued a strong statement, terming the delay “a conspiracy aimed at stopping PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif from going to Balochistan and keeping him away from (the) Baloch brethren”.
The PIA, however, denied any conspiracy behind the delay. The flight did finally take off three hours behind schedule at 1pm without Mr Sharif who had “opted to stay put at Lahore”.
Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, a PML-N member of the National Assembly and the organiser of the tour, wondered why a flight which was to originate in Lahore was rerouted to run between Islamabad and Lahore before it set off for Quetta. He also wondered what technical checkups it was detained for in Islamabad.
Since the PML-N was “not given any plausible reason for the delay and the re-routing”, it could not explain it any other way but to view it as an “attempt to hamper Mr Sharif’s tour”.
Explaining why the tour was cancelled, Sardar Sadiq said even if Mr Sharif had chosen to board the flight when it finally took off, too much time had already been lost: the PML-N quaid would have missed half of the activities planned in Balochistan.
Nawaz Sharif was to meet Baloch nationalist leaders as part of his avowed aim to bring them into the mainstream of Pakistani politics. From Quetta, he was to fly to Karachi on Thursday to meet some other nationalist leaders from Balochistan.
“The flight was delayed deliberately, forcing cancellation of the tour,” Sardar Sadiq said.
A PIA press release later in the day, however, maintained that its foremost concern was the safety of its passengers. “The PIA flight PK-323… for the sector Lahore-Quetta was delayed due to technical reasons,” the statement said.
“The aircraft had to go through repair and a thorough check-up at Islamabad airport where earlier the aircraft had a ‘bird-hit’ incident. All passengers were informed about the flight delay after which some passengers decided to cancel their…
reservation.”
Without naming Mr Sharif, a PIA spokesman told Dawn the airline or the government had “no motive to delay the flight” contrary to the claims by “some passengers”. “(The) impression of intentional delay by ‘certain quarters’ is baseless and misleading,” he said.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/09/nawazs-flight-to-balochistan-fails-to-take-off.html
