Rs300 bn be given to PIA from other projects: Khursheed

Says if PIA employees cannot end deficit in nine months, opposition will stand by the govt; Rs200 bn from CPEC money being spent on Lahore Orange Line train

SUKKUR: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah on Sunday asked the government to give Rs300 billion from other projects to the employees of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for the airline’s betterment and to resolve the financial crisis faced by the national flag carrier.

Talking to media persons here on Sunday, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senior leader said that they would stand with the government if the PIA employees could not end the deficit of the airline within nine months.

Khursheed Shah offered to play a role of mediator between the government and protesting PIA workers to end the strike and proposed utilising the money of the Orange Line Train on PIA.

He said that Rs200 billion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project were being spent on the Lahore Orange Train project.He said the government had passed the PIA privatisation bill in haste

He said that when the bill was presented for debate, they had advised the government to resolve the PIA issue with the consent of the parliamentary leaders of parties but the government had not respected their advice.He said that they were waiting for the prime minister to come to Parliament. He said that protest and agitation is the right of people in democracy, so the demonstrations of PIA employees were their fundamental right. But, he added, the government, instead of negotiating with them, had used force, which claimed the lives of innocent employees.

He said the prime minister or any minister did not bother to condole with the heirs of the killed employees.Shah said that the PIA issue had caused millions of rupees loss to the country. He reminded that the prime minister had even promised not to privatise the PIA but had now changed his words. He threatened to join the PIA employees’ strike if the government did not invite them immediately for talks.

Shah said being the opposition leader, he did not believe in gaining personal interests. However, he believed in collective relief and progress of the country. He said that he would not respond to the allegations levelled against him and will ask from the prime minister what favours he had taken upon his visit to the house.