State Minister for parliamentary affairs says Privatisation Commission tasked to carry forward privatisation process of core activities of national airline by divesting 26 percent of its share
The National Assembly (NA) was informed Thursday of a proposal to restructure Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) through a strategic partnership. The NA was also told that the government is moving ahead to legislate Right to Information Bill to recognise and realise the right to information as a fundamental constitutional right.
During question hour, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad told the House that the Privatisation Commission had been tasked to carry forward the process of privatisation of core activities of the national airline by divesting 26 percent of its share with complete management.
“The objective is to offset the airline from recurring losses and to improve the service it provides to passengers,” he said.
The state minister also enumerated the steps being taken to improve PIA’s performance including fleet modernisation, closure of non-profitable international routes and adoption of a comprehensive fuel cost control strategy.
PUBLICISE INFO FOR TRANSPARENT GOVERNANCE:
Replying to a question, Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Shahnawaz Ranjha said that the present government believes in freedom of press and encourages positive criticism.
He added that the government is moving ahead to legislate Right to Information Bill that will recognise and realise the right to information as a fundamental constitutional right so that information is made available to the public in order to promote good and transparent governance.
He said that the government wants self-regulated code of conduct for the media and expects it to follow the norms and ethics of the profession.
“It is the duty of journalists to further those ends by seeking the truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues,” said Ranjha.
He said that a draft of the code of conduct was circulated amongst all stakeholders for review and comment but Pakistan Broadcasters Association did not respond to it.
Replying to a supplementary, he said that ARY News was issued a show cause notice by Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) but the news outfit did not attend proceedings in this regard.
Parliamentary Secretary for Cabinet Raja Javed Ikhlas told the house that 280 out of the 2,500 students who were sent abroad for studies had defaulted. “Civil suits have been filed against defaulters and guarantors have been made to return the actual amount incurred on studies along with a penalty upto 25 percent for breach of agreement,” said the parliamentary secretary.
On the absence of officilas of several ministries during question hour, the NA speaker directed that the relevant officials should attend the proceedings when questions related to their ministries are taken up. For this purpose, a special attendance register will be maintained in the house, he said.
State Minister Ahmad said he was also addressing a letter to secretaries of all ministries and divisions in this regard.