- 725 pilgrims return from Saudi Arabia on two PIA flights
- JAC warns of protest at Jinnah Terminal if missing employees are not found
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees’ strike entered the sixth day on Sunday affecting flight operations throughout the country as the airline scrambled to bring back 725 Umrah pilgrims who travelled from Jeddah and landed at Benazir International Airport on two PIA flights.
In Lahore and Rawalpindi, the employees staged sit-ins outside the airports to press for their demands. They said that the protest would continue until the government accepted the demands of PIA’s Joint Action Committee (JAC).
Meanwhile, JAC leader Captain Sohail Baloch warned that employees would march toward Jinnah Terminal on Monday (today) if their ‘missing’ colleagues were not found.
Speaking to media representatives, he said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should not make PIA’s crisis a matter of ego and called for immediately initiating dialogue in view of the hardships being faced by the people due to closure of flight operations. He said that if the premier chose not to listen to the employees of PIA, then ‘someone else’ will.
Baloch said that the workers of PIA had put everything at stake and that the privatisation of the national flag carrier would not be accepted at any cost.
Meanwhile a scheduled second meeting, between government representatives and the JAC could not be held.
Privatisation Commission Chairman Muhammad Zubair and JAC Chairman Captain Sohail Baloch had earlier talked on phone on February 5 and a move for therestoration of flight operations had been expected.
PILGRIMS RETURN:
Eight Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flights departed from and landed at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) after five days of stalled operations at all major international airports in the country.
The first of the two flights which brought back pilgrims from Jeddah was PK-7330 which carried 400 passengers while the second flight PK-760 carried 325 passengers. Meanwhile, a PIA plane carried passengers from Islamabad to Gilgit, while another flight airlifted passengers from Gilgit to Islamabad.
PIA spokesman Daniyal Gillani said that flight operations are “partially on” and expressed the hope that the situation would improve later in the week.
“Some employees are willing to come to work. They operated the flights [that arrived and departed from BBIA] this morning,” he said.
JAC members claimed the flights operated were ‘illegal’ as they weren’t up to international security standards.
SOME EMPLOYEES RETURN TO WORK:
The Pakistan Air Lines Pilots Association (PALPA) on Saturday announced its withdrawal from the strike against PIA’s privatisation, with the outfit’s head directing pilots to resume their duties. PALPA added in a statement that pilots were neither instrumental in halting the flight operations nor could they resume it alone.
“At least 410 out of 430 pilots in PALPA are in favour of resumption of flight operations,” PALPA President Amir Hashmi had said earlier, but said that they should be provided adequate security as “we are receiving threats from the protesters”. PALPA urged the government to resolve the issue so that flight operations could resume at the earliest.
The government on Saturday insisted that the employees unconditionally resume flight operations before coming back to the negotiating table. The demand was immediately rejected by the workers, who instead asked the government to reverse the plan to privatise the national flag carrier if it wanted a dialogue.
The government has so far failed to evolve a strategy to resolve the impasse that has resulted in the cancellation of over 500 domestic and international flights, causing extreme inconvenience and mental agony to thousands of passengers.
PIA employees have also voiced concerns about security.
“PIA employees are afraid of going to work,” a PIA official said. “Some security arrangements have been made for them,” he said.
PIA JAC Spokesman Nasrullah Khan, however, said: “We are not pressuring employees to stop working or calling them to protest…. We are peaceful.”
Nasrullah said that protesters would hold a rally in Karachi on Monday near the PIA Head Office around noon.
He said that a petition submitted in the Sindh High Court regarding the mysterious disappearance of four People’s Unity members had been accepted for hearing, although a date for the first hearing was pending. “We haven’t named anyone in the petition. Our workers were picked up from their houses. We want to know why,” he said.
On Saturday, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against key government functionaries and top PIA management regarding Tuesday’s firing incident that claimed the lives of two PIA employees on the first day of the protest. No Rangers personnel were named in the FIR.
An inquiry committee set up to investigate the shooting of PIA employees has begun probing the incident, a Rangers press release said on Sunday, adding that individuals highlighted in various media clips, including Rangers personnel, would be questioned during the investigation.
PRIVATISATION OF PIA:
The National Assembly on January 21 witnessed the passage of six bills, including one to convert the national flag carrier into a public limited company.
Under the bill, Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC) is to be converted into a public limited company as Pakistan International Airlines Company Limited (PIACL).
The government plans to split the ailing national flag carrier into two companies and sell the control of its core business to a global airline, but the opposition to the sell-off has been intense.
Although the government has assured PIA employees that no one will be laid off after privatisation, PIA employees insist the government accept their four-point agenda and put off privatisation.
JAC wants Saad Rafique at PIA’s helm
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) on Saturday came forward with a new suggestion for the Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) conflict. According to JAC sources, the committee has proposed handing PIA to Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique instead of privatising the institute.
The committee said that the federal minister for railways was capable of helping PIA recover from its crisis as he had done the same for the railways.
Meanwhile a scheduled second meeting, between government representatives and the JAC, could not be held.
Privatisation Commission Chairman Muhammad Zubair and JAC Chairman Captain Sohail Baloch had earlier talked on phone on February 5 and a move for the restoration of flight operations had been expected.
The move came after five days of complete suspension of all flight operations of the national airlines with thousands of passengers suffering due to the strike.
