After a shocking statement by an ex-aviation minister in 2020 resulted in years-long suspension of the national airline’s flights to several countries, the federal government on Thursday formed a fact-finding committee to determine the motives behind Ghulam Sarwar’s “irresponsible and speculative” statement.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired the federal cabinet session in Islamabad today where members deliberated on various agenda items, including Sarwar’s statement which turned out to be a disaster for the country’s aviation industry.

Sarwar, during the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in 2022, had revealed that nearly a third of the licences issued to pilots were fake and was followed by another statement claiming that the qualifications of 262 pilots in the country were “dubious”.

Following the startling revelations, debt-ridden Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was banned in June 2020 from flying to the European Union, United Kingdom and the United States, a month after one of its Airbus A-320s plunged into a Karachi street, killing nearly 100 people.

After years of efforts to regain the confidence of global aviation institutions, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in November last year has lifted its ban on PIA from operating in the bloc.

Subsequently, state-owned PIA resumed its long-awaited flights to Europe earlier this month, marking a major milestone for the national carrier after more than four years of hiatus, as the first flight took off for Paris in the second week of January.

The cabinet members were told today that the former federal minister’s statement was “irresponsible and speculative” which dented the country and national carrier’s reputation besides bringing serious consequences to the exchequer.

The premier-led federal cabinet formed a fact-finding committee to determine the motives behind Sarwar’s speculative statement.

The committee will also estimate financial losses to the PIA and exchequer following Sarwar’s statement, a declaration stated.

Meanwhile, the cabinet also approved the Off-The-Grid Captive Power Plants Ordinance 2025.

The cabinet members also approved the Middle East Green Initiative to restore 200 acres of land to plant 50 billion trees. An agreement for the distribution of Pakistan-EU tariff rates has also gotten approval from the cabinet in today’s session.