- Senate Deputy Chairman Abdul Gafoor Haideri twice sought verbal consent to take the bill into consideration but it was rejected by majority voice both times
- Bill has now been referred to joint session of parliament where govt enjoys a simple majority
The government suffered a major defeat in the Senate on Friday when the House rejected a bill moved by the government to convert the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Corporation into a public limited company.
The PIA Corporation Conversion Bill 2015 was introduced by Federal Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid.
Senate Deputy Chairman Abdul Gafoor Haideri sought verbal consent to take the bill into consideration twice, which was rejected by majority voice both times, who said that they had not been taken into confidence by the government before the sell-off plan was drafted.
The bill has now been referred to a joint session of the Parliament, which is expected to take place next week. The bill is expected to pass as the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) enjoys a simple majority in a joint session.
On Jan 21, the National Assembly passed the PIAC bill amid protests by the opposition. The bill was then sent to the Upper House, which referred it to the standing committee.
A new organisation, Pakistan Airways, was registered as a ‘premium service subsidiary’ of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in late February.
PIA employees in early February went on protest after the government refused to accept a four-point agenda proposed by the Joint Action Committee of PIA employees and put off privatisation.
The bill’s rejection would add to the woes of the federal government which aims to privatize the ailing PIA.
Taking part in the debate on Friday, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker Saeed Ghani said the bill should be sent to the Senate Standing Committee on PIA.
The treasury benches did not object to the senator’s demand, after which the chairman referred the bill to the standing committee. The Senate panel was directed to present its report in the House within 12 days.
The Senate’s standing committee in its report presented to the House on Tuesday had also rejected the bill.
MQM’s Tahir Hussain Mashhadi called for action against the authorities for sacking daily-wage earners over their protest against the proposed privatisation of PIA. He said until the Senate approves or disapproves the bill, the PIA employees should not be fired.
Taking notice of the sackings, the Senate chairman referred the matter to the relevant standing committee as well.
The Senate met for an hour and 55 minutes, starting nine minutes late against the scheduled time of 1000 hours. The deputy chairman presided over the entire sitting while Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did not attend the sitting. Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PTI, ANP, PPPP, MQM, PML-F and NP were present in the House.
Tabled by a PPP lawmaker, the House also adopted a resolution for renovation of dilapidated federal lodges and payment of salaries to their employees on regular basis.
The chairman Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination presented a report regarding non-observance of quota for the handicapped persons in all the provinces.
The House passed two motions to extend the time for presentation of two reports. The first report was related to Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources while other was of Special Committee on 24 demands made by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) about European Union’s recent report commenting on various issues of human rights in Pakistan and aftermath of upcoming rainy season in Islamabad and Rawalpindi were taken up. Both CANs were responded to by the minister for Climate Change.
The opposition members staged a walkout for two minutes against the remarks of Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi during question hour about insufficiency of provinces in gas production.
