ISLAMABAD, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The Pakistani government on Tuesday fired 28 pilots serving in various airlines of the country after their licenses were proven fake during an inquiry initiated by the authorities.
In a meeting of the federal cabinet chaired by the country's Prime Minister Imran Khan, it was decided to initiate criminal proceedings against the pilots who had been serving in the airlines despite having dubious licenses, according to the country's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
In another move, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority suspended licenses of 34 more pilots including two women pilots. In the next step, further probe into the licenses of the suspended pilots will be made, following which their fate will be decided by the federal cabinet.
Earlier in June, the Aviation Division of the Pakistani government declared licenses of 160 pilots from airlines including the national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines, Airblue and SereneAir suspicious and directed the management of the airlines to ground them till completion of the investigation process.
The fact-finding committee of the Aviation Division is probing into the licenses after the authorities found dubiousness in the pilots' records of the country during investigation process of a recent plane crash in Pakistan's Karachi that left 97 people including the crew members killed. Enditem
