The needless negative publicity generated by a PIA flight to Manchester, PK 709 which was diverted to Stanstead Airport, creating an international scandal could have been avoided, had the Captain behaved professionally, instead of creating an international incident, where none existed. A scuffle on board a PIA flight to Manchester, carrying some hotheaded British citizens, of Pakistani origin is not an unusual affair, for frequent fliers on this route traveling in Economy. The PIA crew should have been more tactful in handling this situation.The deterioration in the airline’s professionalism came about after the top political elite appointed some high school cronies, such as Aijaz Haroon, Obaid Jatoi, Nadeem Yusafzai etc as top management in the national carrier. When pilot recruitment in PIA is allowed to be dominated by kith and kin of its senior executives and scions of top bureaucrats cum political elite, than professionalism and discipline are bound to be a casualty. Today PIA has become a burden on the taxpayer. Half its fleet is grounded for lack of spares, yet the management and Board of Directors found it appropriate to give an unprecedented wage hike costing over Rs3.5 billion annually. The Chief Executive of PIA, we have heard, has three sons employed in PIA, as if it were a family concern. The Captain flying an aircraft should have had sense to know that terrorists don’t get into scuffles with fellow passengers, and in heat of moment hurl threats, as was done in this case. God save PIA from the rogues within.GULL ZAMAN, Peshawar, May 25.