Lahore: A senior pilot of Pakistan's state-run airlines has gone on leave after he being accused of blasphemy for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed.
This is the first incident of its kind in the history of the Pakistan International Airlines.
Officials said today that the president of the PIA employees association, Hidayatullah Khan, complained to the airline's chairman that the senior pilot used derogatory words about a ‘kalma' or Islamic declaration of faith and the Prophet in the presence of many colleagues.
A three-member committee, set up to probe the matter, recorded the statements of the pilot's colleagues and submitted its recommendations to the chairman.
The committee's findings have not been made public but a PIA official told PTI that it had declared the pilot guilty of blasphemy and recommended he should be removed from service.
