Pakistan calls for new equilibrium in ties with US based on trust, ground realities

KARACHI: A Pakistani man who was mistakenly flown to Saudi Arabia earlier this week has issued a legal notice to Air Sial, seeking compensation for “gross negligence,” his lawyer said on Saturday.

Malik Shahzain Ahmed, a resident of Karachi, was scheduled to fly from Lahore to Karachi on July 8 on the private airline’s flight PF-146. However, he boarded an international flight to Jeddah without any visa or passport and was subsequently detained and deported by Saudi immigration authorities.

A legal notice sent by Ahmed’s counsel to Air Sial’s chief executive reads the airline’s “gross dereliction of duty, reckless conduct and operational failure” had led to the wrongful boarding of his client on the international flight.

“We have served the airline a notice, and if they fail to compensate my client, we will file a petition,” Advocate Muhammad Nawaz Dahri told Arab News.

The legal notice says Ahmed was denied assistance by the airline and subjected to humiliation, distress. He also faced severe mental trauma and had to purchase another ticket to return to Karachi.

The notice accuses the airline of violating the Sindh Consumer Protection Act, 2014, citing “defective” service, lack of identity verification and “misleading representations regarding safety and professionalism.”

It also alleges breaches of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Rules, 1994, the Pakistan Immigration Ordinance, 1979, and international air travel conventions, including the Montreal Convention of 1999.

“Your airline’s failure to perform this basic due diligence endangered passenger security and violated air travel norms,” the notice added.

In a statement on Friday, the Pakistan Airport Authority said it had taken notice of the lapse and written letters to the civil aviation regulator and the station manager.

“In the letter, the civil aviation regulator has been requested to impose a heavy fine on the airline that is guilty of negligence,” PAA spokesman Saifullah, who goes by a single name, told Arab News.

In a video clip circulating online, Ahmed said he went to Lahore airport to board the Karachi-bound flight on July 8 but “mistakenly” sat in the Jeddah-bound flight after collecting his boarding pass.

“After two hours, I asked [myself], ‘This plane doesn’t seem to be landing,’” he said. “Then I got to know that I had boarded the wrong plane.”

The legal notice demands a written response within two days alongside compensatory damages.

It warns of legal proceedings if the airline fails to comply, including a constitutional petition and complaints to Pakistan’s aviation and human rights authorities.

Air Sial is yet to comment publicly on the matter.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate Change Dr. Musadik Malik on Saturday ordered strict action against a group of people who killed a black bear in the northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan, according to an official statement, saying such brutality cannot be overlooked under any circumstances.

A video of the incident circulating on social media shows three individuals pushing the unconscious bear down a rocky mountainside. Authorities have already lodged a police complaint and are working with the local community to ensure the accused are brought to justice.

“Such acts of violence against wildlife are utterly unacceptable and will not be allowed to continue under any circumstances,” an official statement quoted Malik as saying.

It added he had “directed the Wildlife Management Boards to take strict and immediate action against those responsible.”

The minister also stressed his commitment to protecting Pakistan’s wildlife and enforcing conservation laws across all regions, adding that community engagement was critical to prevent such incidents.

Acts of animal cruelty are not rare in Pakistan. In June 2024, a landlord in Sanghar district, Sindh, ordered the brutal amputation of a camel’s leg for straying into his fields. Days later, another mutilated camel was found dead in the region with its legs amputated.

Animal rights activists have also condemned practices like bear dancing, where the animals are trained by being forced to stand on hot metal plates, and bear baiting, a blood sport in which the chained bear is attacked by dogs for public spectacle.

Though officially banned, both practices have been reported in parts of the country over the years.