Joint session of Parliament adopts PIA conversion bill 

ISLAMABAD: The joint sitting of the parliament on Monday adopted Pakistan International Airline’s (PIA) (conversion) bill 2016, which paves way for the government to convert the national flag carrier from a corporation to a public limited company.

The House passed the bill without any objection from the opposition as, sources had earlier said, the government and opposition lawmakers reached a consensus on April 6 at a meeting of 10-member special committee constituted by National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to settle the issue amicably.

Earlier today, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) decided to extend conditional support to the federal government for passing PIA (conversion) bill in the joint sitting of the Parliament.

The decision was taken in the PPP’s Parliamentary Committee meeting held here at the Parliament House under the chair of Leader of Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, party sources said.

The government should assure that it would avoid taking action against PIA employees who had staged protests against its privatisation, they added.

The bill was adopted by the National Assembly (NA) in February amid uproar and boycott by the opposition, but was rejected by the Senate last month, after which the government had decided to get the bill adopted by a joint sitting of Parliament.