Summary One dead and at least five others injured
Dunya News Report (Jibran Dost)
KARACHI: Rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons were used as law enforcers engaged in an attempt to deter the protest of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees against the privatization of the national carrier.
An assistant manager of PIA lost his life during the protest, while at least five others were also injured including cameraman of a private TV channel.
According to a Joint Action Committee (JAC) spokesperson, the strike proceeded because the government had not accepted the body’s four-point agenda.
PIA JAC’s four-point agenda:
- Government should immediately take back the bill passed on January 21 converting the national flag carrier into a public limited company.
- PIA’s employees be provided a chance to reform the airline. If the employees fail to do so, the government will have the freedom to do whatever it finds suitable.
- Privatisation, in any form, whether it is in form of a strategic partner or selling of 36 per cent or 1 pc of the organisation’s shares, is not acceptable to the employees.
- Government should immediately review the aviation policy and form a committee for this purpose comprising members from PIA employees’ JAC along with PIA experts Khusheed Anwar, Kamran Hasan and Salahuddin.
At the same time, Sindh Police East DIG and Pakistan Rangers has refused the claims and stated that the personnel did not open fire.
“No Rangers personnel has fired to control the protest at Jinnah Terminal Today,” said Rangers Public Relations Officer in an official statement.
Whereas Deputy Inspector General East Kamran Fazal stated that bullet casings were collected. “We instructed our personnel not to handle the protesters violently. We are trying to find out who initiated the clash,” he added.
On the other hand, one international and six domestic flights have been delayed due to the protests today and the PIA booking office at Bacha Khan Airport Peshawar has also been shutdown.
However, Spokesperson of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) stated that around 120 PIA flights are scheduled for today and none has been cancelled or delayed.
Various political parties including PPP, PTI, MQM and JI criticised the torture of the protestors. Whereas Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s (PML-Ns) Talal Chaudhry argued that different political parties are using the PIA incident for political gains.
Earlier before the clash in Karachi, flight operations throughout the country were reported normal by a spokesperson of PIA. Aerial operations were not halted after the government warned the employees stating they will lose their job if the demonstration against the government’s decision to privatise the national carrier did not stop.
The Joint Action Committee warned to suspend aerial operations from 7am today, but all aerial operations were normal.
All flights, international and domestic, were on schedule. Different flights, including flight PK-721 to New York, were on time and PIA flights from Manchester and Dubai also landed in Benazir Bhutto International Airport Islamabad on time.
Moreover, employees were present for work in different PIA offices throughout the country.
On the other hand, Federal Information Minister Pervez Rasheed while talking to the media on Monday promised to reward those who agree to end the protest that have been going on for more than a week.
He further added that those employees who would continue the protest shall be terminated from service with no chance of reappointment.
According to Aviation Division officials, PIA would incur a loss of more than 25 million Rupees if flight operation is disturbed.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday approved the Compulsory Service Maintenance Act 1952 for Pakistan International Airlines. After the implementation of this Act, all unions of PIA are dissolved and the protests become illegal.
While trying to convince the opposition on the privatization of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the government recruited an additional 1,000 people into PIA in January, taking its accumulative losses to Rs. 254.7 billion.
In August 2015, the government promised the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will sell the national carrier by June 2016. Under the IMF program, the government is bound to sell at least 26 per cent shares of PIA to a strategic investor.
According to the IMF program document, the government had to complete the transaction by December 2015, however due to misunderstanding on IMF’s part; government claims it would be able to complete transaction by June 2016.
