On 30 June a young man named Syed Kashif Chisthy held hostage citizens of Karachi with automatic weapons on Khayaban e Ittehad in DHA Karachi for almost half hour before he was overpowered by a journalist and Karachi police. Question arises if this weapon was licensed and belonged to another member of his family, was it not responsibility of license holder to keep weapon in safe custody, especially if a member of family has mental disorder and is an alleged drug addict. Who issued this license and should all such licenses not be cancelled?.
What is even more disturbing are media reports that Kashif Chisthy has served in national airline as a pilot instructor in flying academy setup during PPP Zardari tenure. How was such a man with serious medical issues recruited by national airline and cleared by CAA to fly solo and impart training to student pilots? If these reports about Kashif serving in national airline are true than an investigation needs to be launched into all recruitment made after 2008, when PIA was under helm of an MD who was previously declared guilty by AVM Mushaf Ali Mir for gross irregularities in pilot recruitment during previous PPP tenure. PIA needs to carry out a thorough psychiatric evaluation of all pilots, especially those recruited after 2008, especially in background of recent German Wings suicidal crash by a co-pilot suffering from serious mental illness and depression.
ANEELA CHANDIO,
Sukkur, July 3.