Provincial chief minister KP should resign first, says PPP senator.
PHOTO: EXPRESS
“In the ad, war operations have been included as a prerequisite for the job. Is the PIA now going to conduct war operations? What is the relationship between the PIA and war qualification. This ad is tailor-made to award the post to the current CEO,” Rabbani said while taking the floor of upper house.
He claimed that the national flag carrier has already been ‘militarised’ as, according to him, all deputations in the airlines have been made from military.
Earlier in a written reply, the Ministry of Aviation Division revealed that the PIA cargo employees were involved in stealing expensive items from the luggage and action was being taken against those involved in these acts. It said 64 PIA employees were found involved in the theft.
Senate chairman urges courts to refrain from infringing into parliament’s domain
Minister Incharge of the Aviation Division Muhammadmian Soomro informed the Senate that the process of restructuring the PIA has been initiated and there are several plans to improve the standard of the airline with additional facilities. To a question, the minister said effective security measures have been adopted to stop suspicious activities and to control smuggling at airports.
The minister said the government has not offered any bailout package to the PIA but rather approved additional guarantees of Rs17.022 billion and the PIA will borrow from banks against the guarantees.
He said the PIA is in process of finalising its Strategic Business Plan 2019-22 which will be submitted to the federal government in March or April, 2019. Soomro said there is also plan for firing around 200 extra and ghost employees. An effective austerity and cost saving drive is initiated which includes curtailment of unnecessary visits by officials both foreign and domestic.
Sahiwal tragedy
Raza Rabbani, who belongs to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), said history will not forgive parliament if it does not play its role in the situation that emerged in the wake of Sahiwal tragedy.
“In a bid to end terrorism, extrajudicial killings are being carried out. I demand that a meeting of the committee of the whole house be called to discuss the situation arising out of the Sahiwal incident.”
He said the state is like a mother but it has become a witch. He said the state by killing parents in front of their innocent children has taken away their smiles. He alleged that a licence for extrajudicial killings had been issued and both Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Akbar Bugti were its victims.
Rabbani said the issue of missing persons was also not limited to antisocial persons and asked if journalists were not picked up. He alleged that media owners were asked to fire working journalists.
“If parliament fails to stop this then historians will not put the institution in a good light. Talks should be held between the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition to discuss role of parliament,” he added.
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