PAKISTAN IMMIGRATION DENIED PERMISSION TO THREE INDIAN CREW OF - TopicsExpress



          

PAKISTAN IMMIGRATION DENIED PERMISSION TO THREE INDIAN CREW OF QATAR AIRWAYS TO STAY AT LOCAL HOTEL AFTER FLIGHT TRANSIT STOP AT LAHORE ALLAMA IQBAL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT EXTENDED DUE TO POOR VISIBILITY DESPITE QATAR AIRWAYS REQUEST TELLING THAT INDIANS COMES UNDER CATEGORY C (NEGATIVE COUNTRIES) 31ST JANUARY 2014 LAHORE: Three Indian nationals, employees of Qatar Airways, were denied permission by FIA Immigration officials to stay at a local hotel after their flight’s transit stop at Lahore was extended due to poor visibility caused by foggy weather. Under the IATA rules and practice of the aviation industry, it is a normal procedure that in case of an extended delay at a transit spot where the flight / cabin crew need to be moved to a hospitable facility till the flight can resume its course, the airline requests the immigration department to issue a letter of permission which is in a way considered a short-term visa. This situation is mostly avoided at the majority of major airports which have hotels and other facilities built within their premises. The Allama Iqbal International Airport, however, does not have such an arrangement; therefore, the flight / cabin crew stay at hotels outside the airport premises in these circumstances. It is not the first time that the crew of a flight has had to stay at a facility outside the airport in Lahore and there have been innumerable incidents where the relevant authority provides permission to the airline after necessary paperwork. However, these three unfortunate pilots were held back at the airport contrary to the common practice.When inquired, the relevant officials could not give any specific justification apart form the explanation that they were Indian nationals and this case required extra caution. One co-pilot Shah Pooja Kant and two member of the crew - Mehtal Rahul and Galarani Tina - were the three members stuck at the airport till the filing of this report at 12 am local time. According to sources, their flight QR-620 had reached Lahore on Thursday at 1:50 pm and had to take off for Doha at 3:00 pm the same day, but bad weather delayed the flight. However, more than 300 passengers were allowed to move to a five-star hotel in the city. Informed sources told The News that when the Qatar Airlines management was informed about the matter in Qatar, they contacted the FIA officials in Lahore and requested them to allow their employees go to a hotel till the departure of their flight but they refused to entertain their request, saying the matter was of serious concern and they could not give them visas. According to sources, the FIA officials told the airline authorities that as India falls under the category of List-C (negative countries), they cannot accommodate them. They claimed that interior and foreign Ministries had given them clear guidelines to deal with this situation. “Without following the defined rules, they cannot be allowed to leave the transit area,” an FIA official remarked, adding that the issue might not have emerged had there been any other ‘friendly country’ instead of India. He claimed that the Law Convention was very clear about the matter and visa was granted under such circumstances, but they were very cautious in dealing with the Indians. The flight is now scheduled to take off for Qatar at 3 am today (Friday), if weather does not become the matter of concern again.Immigration and Passport Director General Sikandar Sultan Raja was contacted to have his version on the issue but he did not respond to calls and texts messages sent at his cell phone.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 04:34:37 +0000

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