ISLAMABAD: Lower House of parliament on Monday exchanged hot words with the treasury on behind-the-scene conversion of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) into a corporate entity.
Opposition leader Khursheed Shah lamented the “failure” of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to implement its election manifesto of reviving the national industries incurring losses before they are put up for privatisation. He expressed shock over the opening of government offices in Karachi during the weekend and “haphazard” conversion of PIA in line with the “companies act”. He asked the treasury to explain this “curtained conversion”. Shah said random strikes by PIA staff have worsened the perception the public had for the airlines.
“Educated travellers beg me to raise the issue in parliament and ensure that the services of the national airlines are revived,” he said, adding that the federation “which was united during the regime of PPP” is being dismantled and noted that no session of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) has been summoned since the last nine months and reminded the treasury that a “leader” is someone who works for the prosperity of the nation setting aside personal gains. “Only a monarch neglects the public interests and concentrates on self benefits.”
Khursheed alleged that the metro bus service is also incurring losses, and if PIA is privatised so should metro be, as subsidy of Rs 2 billion for the bus service is “pathetic” and could instead be used to improve public services. Shah demanded the treasury focus on eliminating power outages and reducing prices for goods and services. “The reason many independent candidates in Punjab scored votes is because people have lost trust in the governance and administration of PML-N,” he said while stating the PPP wants to avoid any havoc and therefore the ordinance concerning PIA, “which was brought to life secretly”, be withdrawn.
Speaking on his turn, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he endorsed every word spoken by the opposition leader and demanded the withdrawal of the PIA ordinance and that a bill be introduced in the lower house on the same issue so that it can be debated. He said the power distribution companies (DISCOs) making severe losses should be privatised before PIA. Awami Muslim League’s (AML) lawmaker Sheikh Rasheed said countries collapse when they start neglecting the issues of national interest and called the combined opposition “handicapped”. He said that the hospital he constructed in a cantonment is now home to drug addicts as the incumbent regime finds itself unable to grant him Rs 20 million to make it operational.
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