Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information & Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan Friday criticised past rulers for destroying Pakistan International Airline (PIA). She was briefing the media persons about the meeting of the federal cabinet which was held on Thursday last. She said that political appointments and use of PIA for private visits by the then rulers ruined the national flag carrier.
"The government has decided to retrieve all money from the past rulers for using national carrier for private visits between 2008 and 2018," she added. She further said rulers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) used PIA 'like Qingqi rickshaw' while pilots of the PIA were performing the duty of personal drivers.
Awan said the decision by past rulers to divert flights to Sukkur had caused a loss of Rs 5.5 million to PIA. At least 50 VVIP flights of PIA between 2012 and 2017 caused losses of Rs 600 million to the national exchequer, she said. The special assistant said the federal cabinet was given a detailed briefing about PIA and was informed that the national flag carrier will be pulled out of loss by the end of this year.
She said PIA earned Rs 46 million within two months after its new chairman was appointed on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan to pull it out of loss. She said the PIA revenue enhanced 22 percent and its expenditure reduced by 20 percent under the Prime Minister's austerity drive. She said the federal cabinet congratulated Prime Minister Imran Khan on his successful visit to the United States and the role he played in highlighting Pakistan's positive image and dispelling the negative agenda against the people of Pakistan.
She said Prime Minister Imran Khan's US visit was highly successful and the opposition is unable to digest it. She said the opposition tried to create disturbances in the garb of protests on Thursday but their protest was a flop show as the nation has rejected their negative propaganda and underhand tactics. She said Prime Minister Imran Khan has no personal grudge against Nawaz Sharif and the jail manual will be ensured during his imprisonment. She urged media to adhere to the PEMRA's code of conduct. About proposal of establishing media courts, she said it was put forward by PEMRA for speedy justice and protection of rights of journalists and media workers like other special courts in the country.
She said all stakeholders including PBA, CPNE, APNS, PFUJ and press clubs will be taken into confidence and a draft will be shared with them. If all stakeholders reach consensus, only then will media courts be established. She said it is for the protection of media rights and the ministry is only facilitating it. "Any issue related to media workers, owners or PEMRA can be heard there," she said while adding that it will be a speedy justice by speedy trial.
She condemned the use of word 'military' (as it was termed as military courts). She said military is Pakistan's military and not Indian's or RAW's. "We are proud of our military," she said. Regarding media 'censorship', she said it is code of conduct of media that a person who is convict, liar and corrupt should not be given media space and Maryam Nawaz is a convicted person, so media should not air her and it is absolutely fair as per media code of conduct.
When asked PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen is not banned by media despite the fact that he was disqualified by a court, she said there is distinction between a convict and a disqualified person. Answering another question regarding the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) and US reimbursement of aid, she said there was a trust deficit and the gaps between civil leaderships of the two countries were obvious because of which problem arose. This visit has not only minimised those gaps but has also improved strategic, economic and trade avenues to pursue in future. The deadlock has ended and hopefully things will improve eventually, she said.
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