I RETURNED to Islamabad recently after a visit abroad. Any semblance of order, discipline and efficiency vanished after disembarking at the airport in the capital.
There was hardly any staff to direct the passengers towards the relevant counter.
The passengers milled around, breaking queues and forming three lines within a single queue. While this disorder unfolded the immigration staff sat calmly, taking their sweet time to process the passports.
There was no Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) staff present to impose some order and discipline.
After immigration, the passengers were subjected to another torture at the baggage-collection carousel. Only two flights had landed one from Jeddah and another from Dubaibut the luggage took an eternity to arrive; 75 minutes, to be precise.
While waiting for the luggage to arrive, one could do nothing except watching the gaudy truck art plastered unimaginatively over the long wall.
Whose `aesthetic` idea was it to have this kitsch displayed in the name of art to represent a country that pridesitselfon producing art legends like Sadequain and Shakir Ali? Does truck art define Pakistan? This is a question that the PAA must ask itself.
In order to improve things, the Islamabad airport`s passenger handling services should be privatised, while the VIP channels, except for foreign delegates, should be banned for at least a year so that the `VIPs` may see for themselves the conditions prevailing at the airport.
