ISLAMABAD: Aviation Secretary Irfan Elahi on Wednesday informed the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs that the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) sustained losses worth Rs1.5 billion from flights to New York last year.
Responding to a query by Member of National Assembly Tariq Javed regarding the discontinuation of PIA’s service to New York, Elahi said that the service had been incurring losses for the past 10-12 years.
“Why do you not resign if the airline is incurring such great losses?” Javed asked Elahi. In response, Elahi said that he was ready to quit, adding that he was also serving as PIA chairman without receiving any extra benefits or salary.
DELIMITATION:
Briefing the committee on the process of delimitation, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) told the committee that it was ready for the process of delimitation as soon as the relevant legislation was passed by the parliament.
“The commission’s staff has already been trained and the review of electoral lists will begin next month,” said ECP Additional Secretary Zafar Iqbal.
The committee was apprised that the ECP shall require five months to complete delimitation after receiving results of the recent census. Obtaining maps and other records will take a further one month, he said.
‘STRICTER MECHANISM TO BE ADOPTED FOR REGISTRATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES’:
The NA committee, presided over by MNA Shezra Mansab, recommended a stricter mechanism for the registration of political parties, suggesting that the registration fee of political parties should be increased tenfold to Rs2 million.
Besides suggesting that any expenditure by supporters of the candidate should also be included in the campaign spending, the committee members also recommended that a yearly fee of Rs0.5m should be imposed on political parties.
