The government will not take up talks until and unless the employees of PIA call off their strike, Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan said while talking to Business Recorder here on Saturday. He said the government can neither be dictated, nor can it be blackmailed on the matter of national flag carrier. Mushahid Ullah said more than 90 percent of the PIA employees want to continue with the operations but there are other factors, more likely of political in nature, who are purposefully exploiting the situation.
Pakistan People Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) have joined hands to foment public sentiment over the killing of PIA employees. The employees of PIA are opposing the airline's privatisation and are determined to disrupt flight operations, even after the government has accepted all their demands and postponed the process while seeking a strategic partner for 6 months, he added.
He said the national flag carrier is suffering from huge losses, adding the strike so far have incurred more than Rs 2 billion losses. He said the government is already working on the launch of an airline whose feasibility plan is under consideration. The government engaged the PIA union through Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan but could not resolve the issue so far.
Asad Umar, leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, when contacted regarding aforesaid matter, stated that the PTI is supporting the talks and would encourage the democratic government to resolve the matter through talks. He said, on one side, the government says that it could not run the PIA business and on the other side is announcing the launch of another airline. He said government needs to resolve the issue, adding talks are possible only once both the parties (government and PIA employees) take one step back.
Government has not come up with a clear plan with respect to the national flag carrier as it has been passing confusing messages about its privatisation, he said. Finance Minister Ishaq Dar kept on insisting that the government is only seeking a strategic partner and privatisation is not desired, he added. Recent briefings by the PIA management to the National Assembly Special Committee on PIA Privatisation revealed that the National Flag Carrier suffered more because of giving landing rights to other airlines without ensuring a reciprocal treatment and an incompetent management as well as wrong marketing strategies.