PIA workers threaten to halt flights on February 2

Say they will widen scope of protest if privatisation decision is not revoked

FAISALABAD/MULTAN/DERA GHAZI KHAN:

Hundreds of workers of the Pakistan International Airlines held demonstrations in several cities of the province on Wednesday to protest against the government’s decision to privatise PIA.

In Faisalabad, the protesters held up banners and placards and gathered in front of the PIA Office to express their resentment against the presidential ordinance which had paved way for PIA’s privatisation.



Shahid Inayat, district general secretary of the PIA Employees Air League, led the demonstration. “Ours is a profit-oriented airline. The PIA not only provides competitively-priced air travel within the country but abroad as well.” He said it had contributed a lot to the national exchequer.

Inayat said privatising a profit-oriented enterprise would not bode well for the government. “We have worked very hard to build a name for PIA…there is a history of hard labour behind the fact that most people in Pakistan trust and prefer PIA to any other airline.”

If the government had refused point-blank to remove privatisation from the cards, then it was imperative that it take PIA employees and workers into confidence. “Our future and the futures of our families is on the line here, we must be consulted on this.”

Inayat said otherwise PIA employees would go on a strike for an indefinite period and widen the scope of their protest.



The protesters had tied black rags on their arms as a mark of protest. They shouted slogans against PIA’s privatisation and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. They demanded that the government immediately take back its decision to privatise the PIA. “Or else, we will stop PIA flights, inland as well as abroad, if our demands are not acceded to by February 2.”

Inayat said that the Oil Tankers’ Association and the Civil Aviation Association had also announced that they would join PIA employees in their protest and take a stand against the PIA’s privatisation.

If the government did not take back its decision to privatise PIA by February 2, the Oil Tankers’ Association will stop supplying oil and Civil Aviation employees will not cooperate in helping planes land or take off, Inayat warned.

In Multan, the PIA’s booking office remained closed on Wednesday in protest against plans for PIA’s privatisation. Scores of workers gathered at the city terminal and staged a sit-in.

They were led by Mehr Qadir Bukhsh of Air League, and Mehr Kalimullah Klasra, and Asad Bukhari and Ghulam Fareed of the People’s Unity.

The workers said they would suspend flight operations on February 2 if the government did not take back its decision to privatise the PIA, an office bearer of the joint action committee said. People’s Unity president Mehr Kalimullah Klasra said employees of the National Bank and the All Pakistan Oil Tankers’ Association had joined them and would take part in their protests.



He said that the employees would extend complete cooperation and would pledge to work harder under a professional and honest management. He said the PIA had the potential to regain its past glory. The protesters said they would continue to stage protests until the government took its decision back.

Farid said the PIA’s booking offices would stay shut across south Punjab and the Oil Tankers Owners’ Association would halt the fuel supply on February 2. The workers said the PIA was a public limited company and there would be no loss of jobs. “We are united against privatisation and we have the backing from our officers.”

Faraz Qasim Gillani, a PIA unionist, said that the government was hatching a nefarious conspiracy against the PIA and steps to privatise it were being taken behind closed doors.

The protesters said that privatisation would leave hundreds of workers jobless, “but we will not let that happen”.

In Dera Ghazi Khan, scores of PIA employees gathered in front of the PIA Office for the third consecutive day and held a demonstration.



The PIA booking offices remained closed. The protesters held up banners and placards. They said that the privatisation of PIA would not be accepted under any circumstance. “We will continue to raise our voices against it till our demands are fulfilled.”

Peoples’ Unity president Arshad Khan, Air League president Zubair Ahmad, Khumaisa Khan Bazdar and Nazir Ahmad were also present at the protest.

In the waiting room

Scores of passengers left stranded at airports complained about the on-going protests. They said their flight schedules had gone haywire and there were no employees to help them out of the mess.

They said that they sympathised with the workers, but said, “They’re being stubborn”.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th,  2016.