NA panel backs air safety bill after aviation-defence merger

ISLAMABAD: A National Assembly committee has endorsed a bill that updates Pakistan’s air safety investigation law after the Aviation Division was absorbed into the Defence Division in February 2025.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence on Thursday recommended passage of the Pakistan Air Safety Investigation (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The proposed changes are meant to bring the Pakistan Air Safety Investigation Act, 2023, into line with the present administrative setup and address statutory mismatches created by the merger.

Institutional and staffing changes

Under the bill, the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation would be renamed the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation Pakistan, or Basip. The measure also changes the designation of the bureau’s chief from Director to Director General, and the new title would replace the previous one across the 2023 law.

The amendment also seeks to ease limits on hiring temporary or part-time personnel in an effort to bring in specialised professionals. At the same time, post-employment restrictions would remain applicable only to the former director general, full-time investigators and other regular staff members.

A further provision would allow a former director general, whole-time investigator or regular employee to request relaxation of those post-service restrictions by filing an affidavit with the secretary of the Ministry of Defence stating that no conflict of interest exists. The secretary would be able to decide such requests individually. For employees whose service was shorter than three years, the duration of the restriction would be cut in proportion to their tenure.

Powers and trial procedure

The proposed law also broadens the authority of the director general to look into repeated incidents, as well as occurrences that may threaten air safety. It additionally permits inquiries into such other incidents as may be considered necessary in the interest of improving aviation safety.

Another change in the bill is the proposal that all offences under the act should be handled through summary proceedings so cases can be decided more quickly. The amendments are intended to maintain administrative consistency after the merger of the two divisions, help Basip attract qualified experts and provide certainty of punishment through summary trials.

Following the committee’s recommendation, the bill is set to be placed before the National Assembly for passage.