LAHORE: The PIA has terminated around 300 employees, including pilots, engineers and airhostesses, for having fake degrees during the last six months.

PIA spokesman Mashhood Tajwar told Dawn on Friday that on the instructions of the Supreme Court action had been taken against some 300 fake degree holders including pilots, engineers, airhostesses and the staff of other departments.

He said the PIA had been pursuing the issue of credential verifications of its employees. “The human resource administration department had started the process of verification of credentials of around 16,000 employees six months ago and it will be completed soon,” he said.

He said over 30,000 degrees had been dispatched to educational institutions for the verification.

Meanwhile, the PIA has stopped its offices on five routes – Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Pasni. It has already stopped its operation there. The PPP government had started flights on these routes.

Mr Tajwar said the PIA would save Rs150 million per year after closure of offices there. However, the staff of these offices had been adjusted at other stations, he said.