International embarrassment
PIA is almost always in the news, and never for the right reasons. Its long list of problems and failings has been debated far too long without any reasonable initiative on part of the government. And even now, as has been standard practice for quite some time, it seems as if the government goes out of its way to staff it with incompetent leaders with questionable backgrounds. And the less said about the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) the better, with its continuous non-performance regarding its core responsibilities; regulating airlines and airports, among other things. Its oversights have repeatedly put people’s lives in danger, yet there is little oversight over its actions. It is little surprise that most people choose not to travel by PIA, especially on international flights, where it is a recurring national embarrassment.
The prime minister is reminded that ‘treating’ some of the ‘sick’ public sector enterprises (PSEs) just like PIA was pretty high on his agenda during the election campaign. He had many problems with the way the PPP government ran these institutions – even though it was not much different from his own record, both times. Yet there has been neither restructuring not any privatisation initiatives that were free of controversy. Interestingly, if the press is to be trusted, those in charge have sought to remedy matters by making more controversial and inappropriate appointments; and at exorbitant rates. And, again, the same is true for CAA.
Perhaps the prime minister should try a novel solution for such cases; one that has not yet been tried. Since it is chronic corruption and incompetence that are to blame, it would be a nice idea to check and remove political appointees that bloat the institution, instead of adding to them. And since there are far too many (reported) cases of faulty appointments – senior-position people simply not knowing their jobs – a good step would be replacing them with more suitable candidates. But such steps require progressive political will, and are out of place in an environment where party loyalists are rewarded with privileged positions. Till such practices are rooted out, PIA will be just like any other ‘sick’ PSE – hemorrhaging.
