Pakistani politicians barred from flight for turning up late

Two Pakistani politicians were barred from a flight for holding it up for over one-and-a-half hours, media reported Tuesday.

Passengers of an Islamabad-bound Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Karachi late Monday barred Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Rehman Malik and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Member of National Assembly Ramesh Kumar Wakwani from boarding the aircraft, Dawn online reported.

However, PIA spokesperson Mashood Tajwar said that the delay in the flight was due to a technical issue and not the fault of Rehman Malik.

"PIA does not promote VIP culture... but this flight was delayed an hour and 30 minutes due to a technical reason," Tajwar said.

"We are looking into what actually happened but after the delay, the flight departed when it was meant to," Tajwar added.

"You should go back. You should apologise to these passengers. You should be ashamed of yourself, 250 passengers have suffered because of you. It is your fault, sir," furious passengers were heard saying as Malik approached the jetway that connects the terminal to the aircraft.

A clip uploaded on video-sharing site Dailymotion Tuesday shows passengers booing and ridiculing the lawmakers as they approached the aircraft to board.

Crew members joined angry passengers in creating a din, which forced the two legislators away from the aircraft amid chants and slogans.

"I hv right to defend myself agst the allegation.PK370 /1900hr was delayed b/c tech reasons/was expected to leave at 2030. So no delay for me," Malik tweeted after the video was uploaded.