Government to establish new airline: Pervaiz

Says government not to negotiate with protesting employees; killers of protesters to be brought to justice; Dar says govt not to back out from PIA privatisation; PIA signs agreements with private airlines as employees continue strike

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LAHORE/ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information Senator Pervaiz Rashid on Thursday said no talks will be held with the protesting Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees and the government will instead launch a new airline.

Talking to reporters after inaugurating the Lahore International Book Fair at the Expo Centre here, the minister said the government was paying Rs600 billion annually to PIA, which was a great loss to the national exchequer and the amount could be saved and spent on education and other job generating projects. He said such a big amount to meet the losses of the national airline was a burden on the exchequer and the government was making sincere efforts to make it a financially-viable entity.

To a question, the minister said the loss of Rs600 billion was being borne by the people and the government jointly. He said the government was working on different options to turn around PIA but it was necessary to reform the mischievous elements in the airline. He said those elements were responsible for the present deplorable condition of the airline. He said the PIA workers should join their duties and restart work in the larger public interest.

Regarding the Essential Services Act, Pervaiz Rashid said it was invoked against those who disrupted flight operations by indulging in unlawful activities. The minister said the strike remained unsuccessful after he appealed to PIA workers but the mischievous elements took to the streets and tried to stop work by force. He lamented that respectable persons lost their lives in the incident, adding that every Pakistani was saddened by the death of those persons after the strikers turned violent.

Pervaiz Rashid said the government was determined to bring the killers to justice, adding that the Sindh government had been looking into it besides the investigation by the police and law enforcement agencies. He said the Rangers had deputed a brigadier to hold an inquiry into the murders to bring the killers to justice.

About Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah’s recent statement, he said it was hard to understand his logic since the Essential Services Act was invoked by the PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s and the PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in 2010 but the opposition leader termed the act draconian once the PML-N government invoked it.

Regarding privatisation, the minister said the PML-N government had always made difficult decisions in the larger public interest, adding that the party leadership would never sit idle like the former rulers who ruled for decades and in return gave nothing to the country but terrorism and loadshedding. He said the PML-N intended to privatise the institution to improve its performance and eradicate corruption.

He said all such institutions including banks were performing much better after privatisation. He said privatisation was a part of the PTI’s election manifesto but it backed out of its commitments with the people to get rid of public sector institutions being run in losses, adding that the masses did not vote for the PTI in general and local government elections forits opposition to privatisation.

He said the PML-N government had improved the performance of other institutions in the past and it would bring PIA on the right track. The minister said the PML-N knew how to defeat the odds and it would fulfil its responsibility to the people and the country and move forward.

About Imran Khan’s call for another sit-in, the minister said the PTI chairman must enlighten the masses. He said Imran did not achieve anything from his previous sit-in.

Meanwhile, Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar said the government would not back out from selling 26 percent shares of PIA to a strategic partner after passing its bill but unfortunately the politics of lies had gripped this issue for the sake of petty gains.

“The National Assembly has already passed the PIA bill and technically the Senate has 90 days to pass or reject this bill. In case of stiff resistance, the government will move the PIA bill into a joint session of parliament to pass it,” Dar told The News in an exclusive talk from Dubai on telephone after successful conclusion of staff level agreement with the IMF on Thursday.

The minister, who was travelling from Dubai to Sharjah for getting a return flight because of the ongoing strike by the PIA employees, said that the sale of 26 percent shares to a potential buyer was politicised as some elements (without mentioning any name) had started criticising the PIA ordinance even before reading its content details. “They had started propagating much before that the government had prepared a list of 8,000 employees who would be sacked,” Dar said, and added that it was a pack of lies aimed at creating unrest among the employees.

As the employees’ strike continued to disrupt PIA’s flight operations at different levels, the national flag carrier has reached an agreement with AirBlue and Shaheen Air to facilitate its passengers with confirmed tickets stranded due to the strike of PIA employees, the state media reported.

A PIA spokesperson, Daniyal Gilani, said that passengers headed to both local and international destinations will be facilitated through this agreement. He said that passengers with confirmed tickets can contact Shaheen Air or AirBlue, which will accept the PIA tickets and facilitate them accordingly.

Gilani said PIA was in final stages of negotiations with Etihad Airways and Turkish Airlines to facilitate passengers booked to travel internationally. The services of a private carrier are being used to accommodate passengers booked on domestic flights.

Meanwhile, the PIA management has arranged four Boeing 747 planes to bring back hundreds of Pakistani pilgrims stranded in Jeddah because of cancellation of PIA flights. The national flag carrier has incurred an estimated loss of Rs1.8 billion since last week as angry employees protest against the government’s proposed plan to privatise PIA, Danyal Gilani added.