Zubair vows to protect PIA employees, make organisation profitable

State Minister for Privatisation Mohammad Zubair on Wednesday said that strikes were not a solution to any problem and the government was ready to hold talks with the protesting employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in the interest of the nation.

“Employment protection of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA)’s employees and to convert the state owned entity from a loss making unit into a profitable organisation is the top priority of the government,” Zubair said while addressing a press conference along with MNAs Danyal Aziz and Talal Chaudhry.

“We want to sit with the protesting employees and sort out the issues amicably by taking them into confidence, so the employees should come and talk with the government on the issue of PIA,” he added.

“We are committed to providing international standard and competitive job environment in PIA, through sale of shares of PIA to strategic partners which would enhance the capacity of employees, besides improving the performance of the organisation,” Zubair said.

He said that the government would follow the transparency mechanism during the privatisation process and would also take all the stakeholders onboard during the process.

He said that privatisation of PIA and other national institutions was also mentioned in Pakistan Tehreek Insaf’s (PTI) manifesto.

He said that during Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s government under the premiership of Benazir Bhutto, 27 national entities were privatised, adding that the same policy had been adopted in previous governments of PPP, but because of a lack of capacity they were unable to continue the process of privatisaion.

“We consulted all the opposition parties including PTI and all the stakeholders were onboard during the discussion process,” Zubair said.

He urged the opposition parties to avoid political point scoring and show maturity in the national interest.

“It is a priority of the government to remove the reservations of all the stakeholders including the employees,” he remarked.

He said that input from experts had been duly incorporated in the privatisation plan before the process was initiated.

He said that after the strategic sale of PIA it would become financially stable and passenger handling would also improve. Moreover, the national exchequer would get more taxes.

Zubair said that during the current government, 435 people had received jobs in PIA. He said that the hirings were completely non-political and based on the requirement of the airline as well as based on merit policy.

He said that 1,000 employees retired during the past two years against whom only 435 people were recruited in the airline.

Danyal Aziz said that it was the policy of the government to privatise state owned entities which were causing huge losses to the national exchequer.

He said that PIA was incurring an annual loss of Rs 600 billion and was a big burden on the national kitty. The government could save this amount and spend it on social sector development, he added.

He said that during the process of privatisation, all the relevant rules, procedures and regulations were being properly followed.

He said that those who were opposing the privatisation of PIA were hatching conspiracies against the development and economic prosperity of the country.

Talal Chuadhry said that PTI was resorting to cheap political tricks and conspiring against the government by opposing the privatisation of PIA.