Pakistan's aviation body chief has accused the customs and security officials of harassing passengers at the country's airports to extort money.

Khaqan Murtaza, Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), made the allegations while briefing the Senate Standing Committee's meeting on Aviation at the Parliament House on Monday, Dawn newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Murtaza alleged that the Customs, Airport Security Force (ASF) and Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) officials "continue to collect money by harassing passengers," the paper said.

The meeting – chaired by Senator Hidayatullah – highlighted the lack of coordination among agencies at airports and pointed out impolite attitudes with passengers, some participants had experienced.

"You will not find any uniformed armed personnel at any airport in the world," Murtaza said. "It looks like an aggressive atmosphere that is unheard of elsewhere. It feels as if we live in a cantonment." Committee Chairman Hidayatullah also raised concerns about the "attitude" of the ANF at the airport and asked how an expatriate will feel when he lands and finds four personnel standing in different uniforms in front of him.

“It is not sensible to harass a passenger coming from abroad,” he said.

Senator Syed Muhammad Sabir Shah shared his own experience with ANF officials at Islamabad airport, saying that once he was going abroad when one of the ANF officials shouted at him, asking, “Who are you?” Talking about security, the CAA chief mentioned that a team of 25 officials from the UK’s Department for Transport recently visited Pakistan and expressed satisfaction with the security checks.

“With the installation of 39 scanning machines, we will meet international standards,” he said.

Corruption is a big issue in Pakistan which is listed at 140th position on Transparency International’s 2022 list of the least corrupt nations.

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