Process for PIA bidding starts: Saif

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Tuesday launched efforts to acquire the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

“Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has ordered the relevant officials to evolve a strategy to offer a bid for the national airlines,” said Adviser to Chief Minister on Information, Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, while talking to reporters. He said the KP government would go to any extent to acquire the PIA.

“ The KP chief minister has directed the officials to make the airlines a profitable entity by freeing this national asset from the political mafia,” said Barrister Saif who is also the spokesman for the KP government.

The adviser to the chief minister said it was strange that the mafia that had brought the PIA to this stage had been allowed to take part in the bidding process. Barrister Saif said those who destroyed the profit-earning PIA were at the forefront of the bidding process.

“All the state entities are running into losses due to the Sharif and Zardari families. The political mafia is inflicting an irreparable loss to the national assets,” alleged the aide to the chief minister. Barrister Saif termed the federal government a fake and said it was about to end, adding present rulers would be made accountable for the loss it allegedly caused to the country.