The story that Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) planes in Toronto were singled out for secret searches in 2009 due to a bizarre bomb plot hit the Canadian media for a day or two in January 2010 and then fizzled out. Despite the nature of the terrorism story that broke just a few weeks after a failed plot to blow up Northwest Airlines flight 253 over Detroit, it is not surprising the story didn’t gain momentum. Much of it was odd and seemingly unverifiable. Canada’s national broadcaster, the CBC, broke the story but because of the secret nature of the ministerial order to search PIA, all of the broadcaster’s sources were anonymous. Newsline met with the Consul General of Pakistan in Toronto, Sahebzada A. Khan, who confirmed the story’s basic points.

He says that PIA aircrafts were searched from August to October 2009 by Transport Canada, which the Consul General likens to the United States’ Homeland Security, and special canine units were used. Everything was searched, says Consul-General Sahebzada Khan, except the prepared airline food. That was one thing, he claims, PIA would not allow the dogs to get close to. Still, he did not confirm the reasons for the searches or the existence of any threat.

When the story broke in January, Mr Khan says that it caused a “frenzy” among PIA customers, many of whom became frantic to cancel their reservations. The Consul General appeared on television to question the report and promote the clean safety record of Pakistani airports. “The least I could do was to restore confidence.”

He also confirms that things changed last fall once Transport Canada delivered a bill for over $35,000 to PIA. The Canadian government wanted PIA to pay for the costs of the searches. PIA refused. Immediately, the dogs stopped sniffing and the regular searches stopped.

He maintains that if the Canadian government knows of any threat, he is “prepared to cooperate.” Until now, however, Consul General Khan, who has been posted in Toronto since September 2009, claims that the government of Canada has never contacted him about any alleged threat.

Pakistan’s top diplomat in Toronto also says, “Special security measures and heightened vigilance, especially for PIA flights, are still in force.” Even now, PIA passengers go through stringent customs and security checks in Toronto. He asserts that the less than flattering attention they receive is obvious and beyond what other airline passengers face: PIA passengers continue to be singled out. “Baggage is turned upside down.”

In Pakistan, there are theories circulating as to why this may be the case. PIA offers the only direct flights from Pakistan to North America. And given Pakistan’s image as the centre of global terror, this focus on PIA is not necessarily surprising.

There are also theories that these Canadian searches on Pakistan’s flag carrier and Pakistan’s inclusion on a new US watch list in January, which names 14 high-risk countries to be subjected to mandatory extra screening, is no coincidence. The searches on PIA in Toronto could have been made at the insistence of the US. The US government and media love to question the thoroughness of Canada’s immigration screening and national security procedures given they share the longest border in the world (8,891 kilometres long) and despite the fact that none of the 9/11 bombers entered the US from Canada.

Most of the 14 countries pegged for more stringent airport security checks when flying to the US don’t have airlines offering direct flights to the US. Thirteen of the countries on the controversial US list have flag carriers that either make stops before flying onwards to the US or don’t fly to or from North America at all, putting their US- and Canada-bound passengers on partner airlines. Only Saudi Arabian Airlines offers direct flights to the US. PIA’s only direct flight to North America is to Toronto. PIA’s flights to New York are not direct, as they involve stops in Manchester, UK. Putting pressure and inconvenience on PIA may just be the first move to eventually have Canada fall in line with US practices about who to allow onto the continent and how they should come. But PIA is not the only airline from the 14 ‘dubious’ countries flying direct to Canada but not the US. Air Algérie and Cubana are the others. The latter is barred from flying to the US at all given the decades-old embargo that makes doing business with Cuba illegal.

Getting Canada to adopt US-dictated security policies is a sensitive issue with Canadians — but it is not a new idea. “Fortress North America” is an idea that has been around in various guises since World War II. The current version of the strategy entails creating a continent-wide customs union with a common approach that would extend beyond trade and energy, and decisively stretch into immigration, law enforcement and security. Critics says that it “would virtually eliminate existing national borders” between Canada, the US and Mexico, and create a massive police state. Anti-terrorist laws that have severely impinged on civil liberties are, ostensibly, the beginning.

So with continental security focusing on securing the perimeter of North America, could an alignment of air transport policies between Canada and the US be next? Are PIA’s direct flights to North America out of line with US desires?