KARACHI: Opposing the federal government’s privatisation policy openly once again, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) suggested on Wednesday that the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) should be run through public-private partnership, instead of privatising it.
Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said his party would try to persuade the federal finance minister not to privatise PIA, and instead he should adopt his favourite public-private partnership method to revive the national flag-carrier. He was speaking at a seminar held by the Peoples Labour Bureau at the Arts Council Karachi to mark the Labour Day.
About the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), Bilawal said the land belonged to the Sindh government, and decisions regarding the institution should involve Sindh’s consent. He emphasized collaborative discussions between the federal and provincial governments, proposing that if the federal government intended to divest from the Steel Mills, Sindh should have the opportunity to acquire and operate it more efficiently under the public-private partnership (PPP) mode, ensuring the welfare of its workers.
He said the PPP had always raised its voice for the rights of labourers. Bilawal told the audience that the PPP’s Sindh government had adopted a record number of laws to secure the rights of labourers and no other province in the country could compete with the exemplary performance.
He said the National Assembly, in the tenure of last PPP’s federal government from 2008 to 2013, had passed several laws reflecting the same pro-labour stance of the Peoples Party.
Bilawal said that he was pleased to be among his brothers and sisters from the workers fraternity to commemorate the Labour Day. He said the global economic cycle remained in progress due to the hard work of labourers.
He said the hard work of labourers let the elite in society earn profits and allowed institutions in the country to remain functional. He told the audience that PPP’s philosophy was very plain in this regard, which stood for rewarding workers in return for their hard work.
He said the Constitution of 1973 adopted in the government of PPP’s founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, had duly acknowledged the services and rights of labourers. The PPP chairman informed the audience that labourers had been given the right to form unions for their due representatives in the PPP’s regime.
He recalled that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, in her first government, had ordered to set free imprisoned members of labour unions, who had been languishing in jails as political prisoners since Ziaul Haq’s dictatorial era.
He claimed that the situation of fulfilment of rights of labourers had improved in every successive government of the PPP. Bilawal acknowledged that the fraternity of labourers in the country gravely suffered due to economic downturn and increase in the prices of essential products.
He said he was very hopeful that the Sindh and Balochistan governments would further increase salaries of labourers in upcoming budgets. Bilawal said he had similar hopes of the federal government that it would also increase the salaries of workers.
He pointed out that Quaid-e-Awam Zulfikar Ali Bhutto not only granted workers the right to form unions but also established vital institutions like the Employees Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) for their welfare.
The PPP chairman highlighted that the Sindh government had launched the Benazir Mazdoor Card initiative. However, he noted that its full implementation hinged upon the federal government’s transfer of ministries and institutions, as stipulated by the 18th Amendment. He advocated for devolution of institutions like EOBI to the provinces.
He announced former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani’s appointment to mobilise People’s Labour Bureau nationwide.
Speaking at the seminar, Mian Raza Rabbani said he wanted to clarify to the incumbent federal finance minister that the agenda of privatisation was not acceptable to them. He said the proposed privatisation of PIA would be an unconstitutional step. He said the incumbent federal cabinet utterly lacked the vision to make such decisions. Rabbani said the federal authorities had no realisation of sufferings of retired employees of PIA if the present government went ahead with the agenda of privatising the national flag-carrier. He categorically stated that such an agenda of privatisation was not acceptable to them.
The former Senate chairman lamented that the Sindh government had failed to act upon the law it had passed to revive the student unions, as they remained banned in the province as was the situation earlier. He said the student unions had acted as nurseries for training the budding politicians. He recalled that the trade and student unions had played a key role in the past movements against dictatorial regimes in the country.