The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is not being privatised but the change for betterment would be introduced on the public-private partnership basis and the interests of the employees would be protected.
Information Minister Pervez Rashid said told this to the representatives of joint ad hoc committee of PIA employees who called on him at a hotel on Wednesday.
The delegation was led by Sohail Baloch, PALPA president, and Shamim Akmal, central president of Air League.
The minister said that the government desired to help streamline the affairs of the national flag carrier and for this a genuine approach was being adopted.
He said that a managing director would be appointed in the PIA who would not only share the profits in the organisation but also bear the losses, in case such a situation arises.
Regarding the meeting, he said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has desired, “I (Rashid) convey his viewpoint about the national flag carrier.”
He said that the concerns of the PIA employees and their representatives were the concerns of the government as well because the airline was a national asset.
The minister said that salvaging the PIA would also be saving the prestige of the country. He said the decision taken by the government regarding the PIA was aimed at its betterment.
Rashid was of the view that no business should be run under the government control and that during its previous term the government had adopted the policy of liberalisation of the economy which was in vogue internationally.
He also cited the examples of the successful privatisation of the banks and the PTCL. The minister made it clear that there would be no agreement that may affect the interests of the PIA employees.
PIA to be run on pattern of public-private partnership: Rashid
