New Delhi: Stranded passengers of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane, a Boeing 777 aircraft, which had reached Kuala Lumpur from Islamabad, but was stopped there by a court order for non-payment of lease, returned home on the weekend.
Upon arrival, the passengers raised complaints against Pakistani embassy officials in Malaysia and PIA staff for not cooperating with them while they were stranded there since last Friday. Some passengers also said their luggage is still stuck in Kuala Lumpur. They further claimed they weren’t provided food or accommodation till an alternative flight was arranged, with some alleging they slept on the floor of the Kuala Lumpur airport for two days.
The PIA, however, Friday tweeted, “The passengers are being looked after and alternate arrangements for their travel have been finalised.”
A PIA aircraft has been held back by a local court in Malaysia taking one sided decision pertaining to a legal dispute between PIA and another party pending in a UK court.
The passengers are being looked after and alternate arrangements for their travel have been finalized.
— PIA (@Official_PIA) January 15, 2021
Split into two groups, 118 passengers reached Islamabad airport aboard a foreign flight via Dubai Saturday night, while another 65 returned via Doha around 2.30 am Sunday.
The crew said they were instructed by local authorities not to depart Kuala Lumpur based on a court order.
According to local media, the passengers said the airline did not inform them that it was an issue concerning the aircraft’s lease, but said there were some “technical difficulties”.
Last Friday, the aircraft was stopped at Kuala Lumpur airport over a $14-million legal dispute regarding the jet’s lease.
The PIA had leased the Boeing 777 from Dublin-based AerCap in 2015. However, it couldn’t make payments for the aircraft due to the coronavirus pandemic, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan said Sunday.
Three officers of the Pakistani carrier’s marketing, engineering and flight operations department are currently under investigation.
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Nepalese climbers make history by climbing K2
A team of Nepalese climbers became the first in the history to scale Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain, in the winter Saturday, said a trekking company leading the journey.
K2 was first climbed in 1954; there had been six previous attempts to climb the peak in the winter season, but none of them were successful.
16 Jan 2021?????
WE DID IT, BELIVE ME WE DID IT- JOURNEY TO THE SUMMIT NEVER DONE BEFORE
?The Karakorum's 'Savage Mountain' been summited in most dangerous season:WINTER
Nepalese Climbers finally reached the summit of Mt. K2 (Chhogori 8611m), this afternoon at 17:00 local time. pic.twitter.com/O530X3WgKh
— Seven Summit Treks ?? (@sst8848) January 16, 2021
K2 is 8,611-metre (28,250 feet) high and located in the Karakoram range of the Himalayas along the Chinese border. The temperature can drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius and wind can blow at more than 200 kilometres per hour at the peak. However, low wind and a lot of sunshine helped the team of Sherpas accomplish their ascent.
As many as 10 Nepali Sherpas reached the summit around 5 pm local time Saturday, secretary of Pakistan’s Alpine Club, Karrar Haideri confirmed.
Among them was a former Gurkha and UK special forces member Nirmal Purja who, over the last six months, had climbed all of the world’s 14 peaks, which are over 8,000-metre high.
“The impossible is made possible! History made for mankind, history made for Nepal (sic),” he tweeted Saturday.
THE IMPOSSIBLE IS MADE POSSIBLE ! #K2winter – History made for mankind, History made for Nepal !??????#K2winter #K2winter2021https://t.co/dGCLFBOxB7
— Nirmal Purja MBE (@nimsdai) January 16, 2021
Journalist-author Zahid Hussain announces new book
Award-winning journalist and author Zahid Hussain announced in a tweet Friday that his upcoming book ‘No-Win War, The Paradox of US-Pakistan relations in Afghanistan’s Shadow’ would be available by the end of the month.
The book will be published by Oxford University Press, said the author while replying to a query online.
My up coming book. Will be available end of January pic.twitter.com/ZfqgvxPoD3
— zahid Hussain (@hidhussain) January 15, 2021
Former Pakistan ambassador to the United Nations Maleeha Lodhi and Chief of News and Current Affairs at state-owned Pakistan Television Corporation, Quatrina Hosain, congratulated the author.
Congratulations! Looking forward to reading it
— Quatrina (@QuatrinaHosain) January 16, 2021
According to his LinkedIn profile, Hussain has worked as a correspondent for The Times of London between 1996 and 2012, The Wall Street Journal between 2001 and 2012, and for Newsweek between 2000 and 2009. He has written for ThePrint as well.
This will be the third book he has authored, apart from ‘The Scorpion’s Tail: The Relentless Rise of Islamic Militants in Pakistan-And How It Threatens America’ (2010) and ‘Frontline Pakistan: The struggle with militant Islam (2007)’.
He has also covered issues pertaining to Pakistan and Afghanistan for Newsweek, the Associated Press and The Economist.
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