Passengers throw Pakistani politician Rehman Malik off plane after delay
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 17 September, 2014, 10:53pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 18 September, 2014, 2:10am
The Guardian in Islamabad
A video of the protest quickly went viral. Photo: SCMP
Fury at a "VIP culture" that routinely sees commercial flights in Pakistan delayed to accommodate the schedule of politicians boiled over this week when passengers angrily prevented the country's former interior minister from boarding an aircraft.
Travellers had been waiting in their seats when Rehman Malik sauntered down the air bridge to the Pakistan International Airlines jet more than 90 minutes after its scheduled departure from Karachi to Islamabad on Monday.
But Malik was heckled by furious passengers, with some chasing him back to the terminal building, shouting and calling him a "stupid dog".
One told Malik that 250 passengers had to suffer because of him, adding: "You are not a minister any more and even if you were a minister we don't care!"
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Video of the event captured on passengers' phones went viral in a country where politicians are deeply resented for the disruptions they cause to daily life, including traffic jams created by their security convoys and the habit of turning up to political rallies hours after the crowds who come to see them.
One Facebook page said the incident demonstrated the growing clout of Pakistan's middle class over traditional elites.
Faheem Azam, an arts personality, said: "The common man starts believing that respect is not about how much money you have or about the position that you hold - when they understand that respect has to be earned by being fair, humble, honest, committed and sometimes by just being respectful towards others."
While the former minister fled back to the safety of the airport, another politician, Dr Ramesh Kumar Wakwani, managed to board the plane only to be vigorously interrogated.
He at first told suspicious passengers that he was a "doctor" before eventually admitting to being an elected member of Pakistan's national assembly. That prompted jeers that he was behaving like a feudal lord and demands for him to leave the plane. Amid cries of "shame" he eventually surrendered his extra-legroom seat in the front row of the economy class cabin.
Malik defended himself on Twitter, saying he had not been responsible for the delay, which the state-owned national carrier said was due to technical reasons.
The stalwart of the opposition Pakistan People's party is one of the country's most colourful politicians.
