BOAC,
How on earth would I know what this captain was doing and whether he had his 'own' procedure -- or something that PIA pilot's have up their sleeve!?
There is nothing mysterious about circling to 12 after a letdown on 30. Capt. Choudhry must have done it himself many times and since we run our 747-200/300 on the domestic sector as well (Karachi-Lahore, Karachi-Islamabad, and return), he would have had all that extra 'practice' as it were.
May be that is part of the picture: complacency and over-confidence.