March 23, 2016
News
Govt, opp agree to postpone PIA ‘sell-off bill’ for three weeks
* 10-member committee set up to thoroughly discuss and create consensus over the matter
By Ijaz KakakhelISLAMABAD: The government has agreed to postpone the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) bill for another three weeks after successful talks with the opposition parties.
The government has formed a 10-member committee to thoroughly discuss the matter and create consensus. In this regard, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar moved a bill on second day of joint session of parliament. The bill was being introduced to provide for setting up of the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation into a public limited company (The Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conversion) Bill, 2016), as passed by National Assembly and rejected by Senate, be taken into consideration at once under clause (3) of Article 70 of the Constitution.
Earlier on Tuesday, opposition leader in National Assembly Khursheed Shah chaired a joint meeting of the opposition parties to review the draft strategy against the PIA privatisation bill.
Representatives of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamaat-e-Islami, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Balochistan National Party Awami (BNPA) and FATA members were present in the meeting. Talking with reporters, Shah reiterated that the government could not address reservations of the opposition parties. “The PIA conversion bill was not acceptable in any condition,” he said, and announced that all the parties have decided to strongly oppose the bill in the House. The opposition was of the view that no PIA staff should be laid off during privatisation, their pensions and benefits should not be affected, and the treatment of the national flag carrier’s assets should be clearly defined. The Majlis-e-Shoora referred six bills to the Special Parliamentary Committee on Tuesday. The House adopted a motion to refer the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (Conversion) Bill, 2016, the Emigration (Amendment) Bill, 2014, the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2014, the Anti-Rape Laws (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2015, the Anti-Honour Killing Laws (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2015 and the Privatisation Commission (Second Amendment) Bill, 2015 to the Special Parliamentary Committee. The committee would report to the House on these bills till April 7. The House also adopted a motion to constitute the Special Parliamentary Committee comprising three Senators and seven MNAs.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk