Zubair invites employees for talks to revive PIA

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Privatization, Muhammad Zubair on Wednesday invited Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees to sit across the table to discuss ways and means for revival of the national flag carrier.

Addressing a news conference with PML-N leaders Danyal Aziz and Talal Chaudhry here, he said the Prime Minister himself had given an assurance that no employee would lose job.     

Zubair said the process of privatization was totally transparent and there were a number of checks to ensure its transparency, adding that the opposition parties were offered to sit with the Privatization Commission during the entire process.     

The Minister of State said 27 entities were privatized during the tenure of PPP between 1993 and 1996 and during its last tenure (2008-13), senior leader Syed Naveed Qamar was assigned the portfolio of privatization. 

He said it was also clearly mentioned in the manifesto of PTI to privatize loss making entities including PIA.       

Talal Chaudhry on the occasion said the opposition parties were trying to blame the federal government over what happened in Karachi on Tuesday.  He said the incident took place on the road and it was responsibility of the provincial government to maintain law and order.

He said the Sindh government should take the nation into confidence whether it was a conspiracy or its administrative failure.