Stay against Lahore airport outsourcing extended

LAHORE :Justice Muhammad Sajid Mehmood Sethi of Lahore High Court on Tuesday extended stay until October 3 against privatisation of Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore.

The judge ordered that from next day the proceedings would be held on day-to-day basis. The judge was hearing a petition moved on behalf of the CAA employees and founder secretary of Pakistan People’s Party and ex-federal minister Dr Mubashar Hassan.

Petitioner counsel Aamir Saeed Rawn said the CAA had given the management control of country's three big airports, including Lahore Airport to a foreign country. He said it was breach of national security. He said according to CAA Act, the air transport and civil aviation services could not be given to any foreign company. He said Pakistan Air Force also uses the runway and radar system of these airports and by giving management control of these airports would amount to risk national security. He said these airports were used for emergency landing of passengers and PAF planes during war situation. He said outsourcing the airports would amount to risk national security and requested to declare this action illegal and order to give, if desired, airports management control to some local company.

In reply, the counsel for federal government and CAA earlier had claimed that the project for outsourcing the management control of these airports had shelved. Petitioner counsel had alleged that the respondents were misleading the court. He had said that the government was secretly completing the process, so that it could claim that the privatisation had been completed and now nothing could be done.