Islamabad, April 5 (IANS) The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has sacked around 300 employees, including pilots, cabin crew and engineers, for producing fake degrees, media reported Saturday.

The Supreme Court has directed that necessary action be taken against some 300 fake degree holders, including pilots, engineers, air-hostesses and other departmental staff, PIA spokesman Mashhood Tajwar told Dawn online Friday.

“The human resource administration department had started the process of verification of credentials of around 16,000 employees six months ago and it will be completed soon,” he said.

The PIA has already stopped operations on five routes – Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Pasni. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government had started flights on these routes.