Summary Zahid Hamid had chaired a meeting of the joint parliamentary committee on April 6
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Parliament will convene a joint session today which is likely to approve Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) privatization bill among seven others, Dunya News reported Monday.
National Assembly (NA) Speaker Ayaz Sadiq will chair the session at 11 am.
The government will table at least seven bills including one to curb honour killings and another about selling shares of the national airline.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) parliamentary parties in National Assembly and the Senate will hold a meeting prior to the joint session. The parliamentary parties will review strategy against the government in Panama leaks matter among others.
On April 6 it was reported that the government and the opposition had agreed to privatization of the company in a meeting of the joint-parliamentary committee in the federal capital.
The meeting was presided by Federal Law Minister Zahid Hamid. The bill was given green-signal after mutual consensus developed between the government and the opposition members.
It was decided in the meeting that the government would sell as much as 49 percent shares of PIA while the remaining 51 percent would remain with the government. Likewise, the administrative control of the institution will not be handed over to the shareholders.
The management of PIA will remain with the Board of Governors however representation within the Board of Governors will be given in accordance with the percentage of shares. It was decided in the meeting that the conversion would not affect salaries and pensions of the employees and that the assets of the institution would not be sold as well.
The main purpose of converting PIA into a limited company is to attract strategic partners. The committee presented its report before the Parliament on Thursday.
It was agreed that voting pertaining to the Bill would be done on April 11.
However, the opposition members demanded that the cases registered against the protesting PIA employees be taken back.
Federal Finance Minster Ishaq Dar, responding to the demand said that it was not in jurisdiction of the parliamentary committee.
Earlier this year, employees of the national airline had launched massive protests across the country while all domestic and international flights remained grounded for over a week.
In a clash between security personnel and the employees near Karachi’s Jinnah terminal, two persons were killed.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan had joined the protesters against the government. While Pakistan People’s Party had also sided with them demanding the government to not devoid workers of their rights.
