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KARACHI: A Pakistani man, who was “mistakenly” flown to ����ֱ�� last week, has moved a high court against the private airline, Air Sial, according to the court petition, which accuses the airline of demonstrating “criminal negligence” in a matter of national security.

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.

In a petition filed in the Sindh High Court on Friday, the passenger requested the court for an early hearing which the court accepted and fixed his plea for July 21. The complainant made the private airline and the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) parties in his petition.

“This is a matter of national security. A JIT (joint investigation team) should be formed on this matter,” Ahmed said in his petition filed through his lawyer, Muhammad Nawaz Dahri.

“How did a person go abroad without a ticket, without a passport and other documents? This is criminal negligence of the private airline.”

Ahmed also accused the airline management of harassing him.

“The license of the private airline should be suspended until the investigation is completed,” he requested.

In a legal notice previously served to the airline, Ahmed said he was denied assistance by the airline and subjected to humiliation, distress. He said he faced “severe mental trauma” and had to purchase another ticket to return to Karachi.

The notice had accused 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 alleged breaches of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Rules, 1994, the Pakistan Immigration Ordinance, 1979, and international air travel conventions, including the Montreal Convention of 1999.

In a statement after the incident was first reported by news channels, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) 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.

Ahmed’s legal notice demanded a written response within two days alongside compensatory damages.

Air Sial has not publicly commented on the matter.

The US government has designated The Resistance Front, also known as the Kashmir Resistance, as a ” foreign terrorist organization” following an April 22 militant attack in Indian Kashmir that killed 26 people. The group initially took responsibility for the attack in Pahalgam before denying it days later. Following are some facts about the group.

WHAT IS TRF?
TRF emerged in 2019 and is considered an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a Delhi-based think tank.
Indian security officials said TRF uses the name Kashmir Resistance on social media and online forums, where it claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack in Indian Kashmir’s Pahalgam area.
Lashkar-e-Taiba, listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, is the Islamist group accused of plotting attacks in India and in the West, including the three-day assault on Mumbai in November 2008.
“This is basically a front of the LeT. These are groups which have been created over the last years, particularly when Pakistan was under pressure from the Financial Action Task Force and they were trying to create a pattern of denial that they were involved in terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Ajai Sahni, head of the South Asia Terrorism Portal.

HOW HAS THE PROBE ADVANCED?
On June 22, India’s anti-terror National Investigation Agency said it had arrested two men who harbored three militants involved in the Pahalgam attack.
The agency said in a statement that the arrested men had revealed the identities of the attackers, and confirmed they were Pakistani nationals affiliated to the
Lashkar-e-Taiba. Islamabad denies any involvement. 

WHAT HAS THE GROUP DONE?
The group has not previously had any large incidents attributed to it, according to Sahni.
“All TRF operations are essentially LeT operations. There will be some measure of operational freedom as to where they hit on the ground, but the sanction would have come from the LeT,” Sahni said.

WHAT DOES INDIA SAY ABOUT TRF?
India’s interior ministry told parliament in 2023 that the group had been involved in the planning of killings of security force personnel and civilians in Jammu and Kashmir.
The group also coordinated the recruitment of militants and the smuggling of weapons and narcotics across the border, the ministry said.
Intelligence officials told Reuters that TRF had also been issuing online threats against pro-India groups for the past two years.

WHAT DOES PAKISTAN SAY?
Pakistan has denied that it supports and funds militants in Kashmir, saying it offers only moral and diplomatic support.