onboard Air Force 1 - After a three-day tour of France, in which more than the strengthening of bilateral ties or trade, the news of Monsieur Osama Bin Laden and the resulting, unrelenting embarrassment after embarrassment for the Pakistani Army, ISI and government dominated news cycle after news cycle, the PM and his delegation boarded Air Force One, the VVIP aircraft which is reserved for the use of the Prime Minister, to return to Pakistan. The Prime Minister boarded the airplane 12 hours earlier than scheduled, straight after a meeting with the French Prime Minister, Mr Francois Fillion. He took a round of the plane, shaking hands with every member of the delegation and the airplane crew before being seated for takeoff. As the plane was taxiing from Orly airport, late on Thursday night, the section of the plane seating editors and publishers was informed that after takeoff the Prime Minister would be seated amongst them for an informal discussion. True to his word just as the plane was airborne, the PM walked casually into our midst and took the seat offered by Mr Kamran Mirza, President of the Pakistan Business Council. Ms Raheela Baloch, MNA, vacated the adjoining seat and retired to the front section of the aircraft upon PMs request. Mr Wamiq Zuberi, Editor of the Business Recorder was offered the vacated seat next to the PM and all others gathered round to hear what the PM had to say. Obviously the only thing on all our minds, including the PM was the way the world is reacting to the Monsieur OBL issue. The air was thick with theories, advice and well meant cautions for the government. That days copy of The Times was produced and Ms Hina Rabbani Khar (who had also joined the discussion by then) read out an excerpt to the PM. Blaming the rest of the world for Pakistans failure to capture Osama bin Laden was not the most grown-up approach for its Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, to take. In the alleyways of Karachi, it is just possible that Osama bin Laden might have escaped notice, but not in the garrison town of Abbottabad. Gilani can talk about the failure of other nations intelligence agencies and demand support to combat terrorism. But every Pakistani I have spoken to in the past two days believes the army or the ISI intelligence agency must have known Osama Bin Ladens whereabouts. The brutal exposure of Pakistans double game taking Americas money to fight extremists while harbouring its enemies makes this a dangerous moment. A sombre silence as these words echoed around the cabin, with the PM looking serious and thoughtful. Mr Zuberi who was now standing in front of him, having offered his seat to Ms Khar, was expanding on theme of the article and the way the OBL incident has been played in the news, leading to varying degrees of pressure on the major institutions in the country. In the midst of this grim debate aboard AF1, around midnight, the aircraft full of the PMs VVIP delegation began to swing like a pendulum, left and right. Those standing around the PM clutched the backs of the seats for support. Matters were getting worse, in the discussion and in the motion of the plane. Two airhostesses hurried up the aisle, at one point one of them was flung against the seats and had to be helped up the aisle as the flight got rougher and rougher. The PM beginning to look slightly concerned remarked, 'It seems we have run into a storm, as the few journalists standing around him lurched about trying to stay close enough to hear what he was saying over the whir of the engines while still hanging on to something for support. As the seatbelt signs switched on, the Military Secretary was summoned by the PM for an explanation of the unusually turbulent flight we were experiencing. Several who were standing took their seats, including myself across the aisle from the PM, who while maintaining a calm demeanour and trying to reassure the rest of the flight that this turbulence was most likely temporary and would soon be over, was gripping the armrest of his seat so hard his knuckles were white. The report from the MS was that we had run into technical trouble, immediately identifiable as serious enough to re-route the special flight to Paris. The turbulence continued unabated as the pilot switched the plane from autopilot to manual to better control it. 'You are not worried are you? asked the PM... Not at all, I replied, thinking to myself that if you arent safe on Air Force 1, with the Premier of the country and the best engineers in the country on board as well as a military attache and all manner of important persons, then where? (Abbottabad, perhaps? Ed.) Do you know this is a French aircraft? said the PM. Well we can go complain in person, in Paris, I joked. In front of me, Raheela Baloch was silently mouthing prayers with a look of intense fear on her face. Laughter from the MNAs seats as they joshed each other about being afraid of dying in an air crash. The Military Attache informed us that we would be circling Paris for another hour before we could land, even though it had only been 20 minutes since we left Paris; as airplanes are generally lighter than when they land than when they take-off, because of burning off fuel which affects the calibrations of the flight controls at landing. Once the flight stabilised, the PM instead of returning to the safety of his seat, walked further down to the plane to the reporters seats where he spent another half hour before being reseated in his own seat. As we landed on the airstrip at Orly airport, just two hours after leaving it, sighs of relief and applause rang out. The pilot and Military Attache also must have said a silent prayer of thanks. Out we marched, back into cars hurriedly arranged by the French Embassy staff, who on extremely short notice made all arrangements necessary to accommodate the delegation in transport as well as at the hotel. We reached the hotel at approximately 1 in the morning, all thankful that the fault was discovered in time and mindful that it had been a near miss from disaster. The PM and his delegation was rescheduled on a commercial flight from Paris, a whole day later. He spent his extra day in the hotel with his family and later with Monsieur Francois Fillion, the French PM, in informal engagements. The PM will land in Islamabad at 7 30am today by PK 750 from Paris. On his instructions no passengers booked on the flight already were disturbed or repositioned. Air Force 1 was examined by engineers and the fault was fixed. A test flight was also held, but as a precautionary step the PM and his delegation were advised to take the commercial flight, which was returning to Islamabad from Paris largely unoccupied.