- Govt decides not to pass PIA bill through joint session, agrees to form bipartisan committee to evolve consensus over issue
- Joint parliamentary session deferred till April 11
The government has deferred tabling a bill seeking privatization of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in a joint session of parliament for three weeks.
Earlier on Monday, sources had claimed that the government had reached a deal with the opposition parties by accommodating their demand to allow a discussion on Musharraf’s exit. Under the rules, during the joint session of the parliament, no other agenda can be taken up except for the agenda already finalised. However, the government agreed to accommodate the opposition’s demand of on open debate on Musharraf’s exit.
As a quid-pro-quo, the opposition had agreed not to stage protests over the government’s passage of the controversial bill which was being strongly opposed by the opposition parties, including the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
While an agreement was in place on Monday to pass the bill the next day, the government quarters, before the start of the joint session on Tuesday, reached out to the opposition and sought its help in getting the bill passed unanimously.
A well placed source told Pakistan Today that while the federal government wanted to get the bill passed with a simple majority, the Baloch and Pashtun nationalist leaders, Senator Hasil Bizenjo and Mahmood Khan Achakzai convinced Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to get the bill passed unanimously.
“Both leaders believed that passing the bill with a thin majority would leave the door open for future controversy. Since PIA’s privatisation also involves some contentious issues including one of PIA’s assets, the Roosevelt Hotel, it is important that the bill has a wide backing,” the sources said.
GOVT, OPPOSITION COMMITTEE TO REDREAFT BILL:
PTI MNA Asad Umar said a 10-member committee consisting of government and opposition members will be constituted in order to redraft the bill and address opposition’s concerns.
The opposition is of the view that no PIA staff should be laid off during privatisation, their pensions and benefits should not be affected, and the treatment of the national flag carrier’s assets should be transparent.
The move comes a day after the government was unable to get the opposition leaders onboard during a briefing regarding privatisation of the national flag carrier.
The joint session of the parliament was scheduled to commence at 11:30AM. However, following a consultation process, the session started at 1:26pm.
National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq informed the House that the government and the opposition benches had agreed to unanimously pass the bill after evolving a consensus over it.
“The treasury and opposition benches have decided to bring in amendments in the bill. It has also been agreed that a 10-member parliamentary committee will be created which will submit its recommendations by April 7. The joint session will be convened again on April 11 to get the bill passed,” he added.
Senator Ishaq Dar announced that the members of the committee will include Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed (PML-Q), Senator Hasil Bizenjo from National Party (NP), Senator Saeed Ghani (PPP), Syed Naveed Qamar (PPP), Asad Umar (PTI), Maulana Fazlur Rahman (JUI-F) and Farooq Sattar (MQM).
Three members from PML-N would include Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid, Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan.
He said the committee will hold three or four preparatory sessions and will submit its recommendations on April 7.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and others did not attend the session.
OPPOSITION NOT COMPLETELY ONBOARD:
PPP Senator Saeed Ghani wanted to once again raise the issue of General Musharraf’s exit but was disallowed by the speaker.
Leader of the Opposition Khurshid Shah, while chairing a meeting of opposition parties earlier, said the bill would be opposed outside parliament. The opposition also maintained that if the bill was presented in parliament in the current state, they would oppose and boycott it.
Treasury and opposition benches have been sparring over the PIA bill since February. It has been rejected twice by the opposition-controlled Senate.
The government then put its majority in the National Assembly to use, getting approved the legislation that would turn the national airline into a public limited company.
The opposition is of the view that by doing so, the PML-N government is paving the way for the airline’s privatisation.
The bill’s statement of objects and reasons says that the government had decided to convert PIA into a public limited company to revitalise the fledgling airline.
But the opposition has been contesting the view, claiming that the government simply wanted to privatise the airline, an impression that has been officially denied.