Bilawal sees pilots issue as facade for PIA sell-off

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto on Wednesday said that the government was finding excuses to sell off the assets of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in order to benefit its frontmen.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore, he remarked that the PIA’s permit to fly to the European Union countries was suspended due to the “allegation” of dubious licences hurled by Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan against the national flag carrier’s pilots.

“The minister whose own degree is fake ... levelled this type of allegation against our pilots without any evidence [leading to] them being banned across the world. No one has caused this type of damage to PIA in history as this government,” he said, while referring to the aviation minister.

Bilawal observed that the authorities had failed to realise that pilots were required to sit an exam and renew their licence every six months and do not necessarily require a degree to operate flights. He stressed that the licence and certification were issued to all pilots by the Civil Aviation Authority.

The PPP chairman alleged that the government wanted to privatise PIA by taking advantage of the May 22 air crash in Karachi involving the national airline that killed 97 people. He alleged that the government wanted to sell off PIA’s assets to benefit its frontmen including the Roosevelt Hotel owned by the national airline in New York, which he said was a profitable property.

“But even if the government is in favour of privatisation, it cannot sell off PIA in the current economic circumstances,” he said. He added the government was pointing fingers at pilots even though Pakistani pilots were considered some of the best in the world.

Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Imran, Bilawal said that he was the premier of his party’s social media only. “His problem is that he is not ready to become the country’s PM, he is glad to be the PM of the PTI and their Facebook and Twitter,” he said.

He once again challenged the premier to hold a debate with him either in the parliament or on TV and negated the impression that the PPP was seeking any concession or NRO from the government. “PPP will continue to give a tough time to the government,” he stated.

Bilawal said that the prime minister was the first leader who had been unable to evolve a national consensus on Kashmir issue. He said the country needed a mature premier who could tackle the problems of the country.

Commenting on the coronavirus crisis, the PPP chairman maintained that the pandemic was not subsiding as claimed by the government.

“Some people who have not read anything about the virus are saying that the curve is flattening; this is a blatant lie,” he said while referring to the government officials. He alleged that the PTI government had “sabotaged” efforts to contain the Covid-19 outbreak from day one and had not taken any steps to mitigate the virus’s threat.

“The worse is yet to come; the curve would only flatten if you had taken steps to flatten it,” he said, adding that Covid-19 cases had risen in the country because the government had not made enough efforts.

Bilawal observed that Pakistan was grappling with “historical” challenges in the form of the virus outbreak, locusts attacks, a weak economy and monsoon rains but “instead of making improvements, the PTI is making the situation worse”.

He said that the PPP would not let the PTI meddle around with 18 Amendment. Their manifesto was to bring back One Unit, he added. He hoped the PML-N would play the much-needed role in this time of crises.