ISLAMABAD: The opposition in the National Assembly on Monday blasted the government's "non-transparent" privatisation policy, and vowed to resist selling out of the state-owned entities at throwaway prices to "cronies", at the parliament as well as challenging it in the court.
Opening the debate in the House on the government's privatisation policy, parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Khawaja Asif, alleged that the government deliberately defamed the state-owned entities such as the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to pave the way for selling out these to its "cronies and the ATMs".
"We are not against the privatisation process, but it must be transparent and not to oblige your cronies and the ATMs by selling these at throwaway prices...These are national assets and nobody's personal property," he said, adding that the opposition would challenge any such move not only in the parliament, but would also approach the court, if needed.
He said that there existed a broad-based consensus among all the political parties that the state-owned institutions that were not profitable and were instead a burden on the national exchequer should be privatised through a transparent process.
"But what we have been hearing through the media and the social media and even the names of the 'cronies and ATMs' are being circulated to whom these entities will be sold out at throwaway prices...We will not let it happen," he added.
He pointed out that the PIA and its Roosevelt hotel in New York were being sold out at a time when the airports across the world were closed and the hotel industry was facing severe crisis.
"Our collective concerns have now been proven. The PIA has been ruined through irresponsible statements by the aviation minister. While there is contradiction in what the minister has stated about the licenses of the pilots and what now the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has stated," he added.
"Who are you pleasing with such statements? I will not name, but I know you are going to oblige your 'foreign masters' through such statements," he further alleged.
At the same time, Asif also alleged the PTI government for selling those entities at throwaway prices to those who had funded the party in the elections. "Don't return the 'loans' by selling out the PIA at throwaway prices to them...don't increase the prices of medicines through this way to oblige someone to whom you are going to return the money," he said, while referring to the recent 10 percent increase in prices of medicines.
Referring to the declaration of assets and nationalities of the prime minister's advisers and special assistants, he said that the cabinet was part of the parliament and an offshoot of the House, adding that persons with dual nationalities could not be made a part of the federal cabinet. "If they [dual nationals] cannot sit in the parliament, how come can they sit in the federal cabinet by holding dual nationalities?" he asked.
"We are proud of being the elected representatives of the people and we are not those who came to the House through the support of the 'ATMs' or through a raising of any umpire's finger [in our support]," he added.
About a proposed legislation to provide the right of appeal to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav after a presidential ordinance lapsed on July 20th, Asif alleged that the government was going to make legislation aimed at facilitating the India spy.
"Our government had to face criticism from the PTI whenever there was no mention of Kulbhushan and now they are going to facilitate him," he added. Pakistan People's Party (PPP)'s Nafeesa Shah also questioned the government's privatisation policy, saying that who was going to purchase the Roosevelt and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) at this COVID-19 pandemic situation.
She also demanded that a commission should be constituted to ascertain what benefits the country got from privatising the state-owned entities since 1990. "The government is going to privatise these entities, when there is a crisis in the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic...You're happy that Trump has shown interest in purchasing Roosevelt. We will not let you sell our state assets out this way," she added.
She defended the PPP's previous government's privatisation policy, saying that the PTCL was sold out to the UAE's public sector entity - Etisalat. Instead of privatising these entities, there should be public and private sector partnerships, she added.
While responding to the opposition's criticism, Minister for Communications Murad Saeed said that no decision had yet been taken to sell the Roosevelt hotel, adding that it was being discussed how to reduce the losses of the hotel.
"No entity is being sold out. It is up to the parliament to decide about the privatisation of the state entities," he added. He lambasted the PML-N's "dual standards", saying that its one finance minister [Ishaq Dar] was an absconder, while another - Miftah Ismail - was ready to give the PSM at no price to those who would have purchased the PIA.
He also criticised the politics of the PML-N leadership, saying: "the elder brother [Nawaz Sharif] started his political career under General Jilani and General Zia, while the younger brother [Shehbaz Sharif] is talking about a 'commitment' under which he returned to the country from London".
He said that the sugar prices soured to Rs140 per kilogramme during the PML-N government, and there was neither any inquiry nor any action taken.
He maintained that under the law, the advisers and the special assistants were not required to declare their assets, while Prime Minister Imran Khan allowed and declared the assets of the advisers and special assistants.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
Comments
Comments are closed.