The Leader of Opposition in Senate, Senator Aitzaz Ahsan on Wednesday said that the stance of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) over the government's flawed privatisation policy is quite clear and it will not allow the sale of national entities to personal favourites.
Talking to Business Recorder exclusively, he said his party was opposed to privatization from day-one and will continue to oppose the policy as it is not in the national interest.
To a question that Raza Rabbani, a veteran PPP leader who was recently sworn in as chairman Senate unanimously, Aitaz Ahsan said that what Rabbani had said about the privatisation reflected the party's stated policy, adding that other PPP members will raise their voice against the privatisation just as vigorously.
Aitzaz said that the federal government's privatisation plan is tantamount to selling national strategic institutions like the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) in violation of the provisions of the Constitution.
"We're strongly opposing it and want the government to improve the performance of national entities such as Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and other government departments without privatising them," he maintained.
He said that the PPP has moved private members bills in the Senate demanding the audit of the performance of all the government units, departments which were privatised in the past, adding the performance of all the institutions including Habib Bank Limited (HBL) should be reviewed as per law.
"We want prospective evaluation of all the government units that were privatised and not retrospective as there were so many institutions that were sold out or shut down permanently after their privatisation instead of any attempt being made to improve their performance," he added.
Aitzaz said that the PPP will not allow any government to usurp the rights of the employees and the privatisation of national entities will leave scores of employees jobless, which is not acceptable as the PPP is workers' friendly party.
He said the government failed to sell shares of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) after stiff resistance by its employees and the PPP. He urged the government to refrain from privatising the PSM and the PIA.
The past experience of privatisation of national strategic institutions like the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation had proved a mistake, he said, adding the PPP would resist the move to privatise PIA and the PSM.
He said the government was violating the Constitution, particularly Article 154, while engaged in the privatisation process because national institutions were jointly owned by the federation and the provinces and their privatisation could be legal only after approval by the Council of Common Interests (CCI).
Senator Saeed Ghani of the PPP who has recently been appointed as parliamentary leader of the PPP in the Senate after Raza Rabbani's election as Senate chairman, said he would follow in the footsteps of Rabbani who strongly opposed the government's privatisation policy tooth and nail.
The sources in Senate secretariat, said that after taking over as chairman Senate, Rabbani also quit the office of deputy secretary general of the PPP and has also handed over all the documents relating to issues of privatisation and other matters which he had been taking up on the floor of Senate, to Senator Ghani.