The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Pakistan has informed the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Malaysia, Vietnam, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Aman, Qatar and Kuwait that licences of 166 Pakistani pilots working in these countries have been verified and found authentic.

Pakistan had received requests from these countries to check authenticity of licences of the pilots working with their airlines. According to a spokesperson for the Aviation Division, Pakistan had received requests from 10 countries to check authenticity of licences of 176 pilots working there. He said that Pakistan has informed these countries that licences of 166 pilots are authentic, while authenticity of licences of 10 pilots is being checked. He said the licence authentication process for 10 pilots was delayed due to some technical issues and it would be completed next week.

The spokesperson said that licences of 162 pilots were marked suspicious on the basis of findings of an inquiry board and these pilots were grounded immediately on the instructions of the government of Pakistan. He said the federal cabinet has cancelled licences of 28 of these pilots and they will not be able to work with any airline in Pakistan. The spokesperson said that licences of the aforementioned 28 pilots were cancelled according to the law.

The spokesperson said that action has been initiated against another 76 pilots in line with rules and regulations. He said that verification of licences of another 158 pilots will begin soon. He said that Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan would supervise the action against the holders of fake pilot licences once the verification process is complete.