ISLAMABAD: The government plans to finalize the privatization process of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) by the end of next month, according to a senior federal minister who shared the information while addressing the National Assembly on Monday.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar took up the issue of PIA flight restoration to the United Kingdom during his five-day visit to Britain, where he met top government officials and described the issue as a “major priority” for his government.
The suspension of PIA flights to the UK and Europe followed a 2020 plane crash in Karachi that killed 97 people. This was compounded by a controversial statement from Ghulam Sarwar Khan, the aviation minister in former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s administration, who asserted that a significant number of Pakistani pilots held fake licenses, leading to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) ban on PIA.
The situation also impacted the privatization process of the airline, though Dar said the government would start receiving the first round of bids on October 1.
“Federal Minister for Defense Khawaja Asif informed the National Assembly on Monday that the privatization process of Pakistan International Airlines will be finalized by the end of October,” the APP reported.
He said PIA was facing a debt burden of Rs800 billion ($2.9 billion), adding its flights would not operate on routes that lack financial viability.
The government initially planned to finalize the airline’s privatization deal on the country’s Independence Day, August 14, but it was delayed following requests from bidders who were waiting for PIA’s latest audited accounts, aircraft lease agreements and clarity on flights to Europe.
There are 88 commercially operated state-owned enterprises in the country, and the government has approved the sale of 24 of them in its five-year privatization plan ending in 2029.
The privatization of loss-making state-owned entities is also important due to the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has given staff-level approval to a fresh $7 billion loan to Pakistan.
Pakistani minister says government to finalize PIA privatization by end of October
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Pakistani minister says government to finalize PIA privatization by end of October
- Pakistan planned to finalize the privatization deal on Independence Day, August 14, but it was delayed
- Khawaja Asif says PIA is facing a debt burden of $2.9 billion, can’t operate on routes lacking viability
Russian Deputy PM on two-day visit to Pakistan from tomorrow
- Islamabad last year started purchasing Russian crude oil at a discount
- Pakistan also received first shipment of LPG from Russia last September
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Alexey Overchuk, will arrive in Pakistan tomorrow, Wednesday, on a two-day visit accompanied by a high-level delegation, Radio Pakistan reported on Tuesday.
Islamabad last year started purchasing Russian crude oil at a discount as high prices caused by geopolitical tensions have caused fuel prices to more than double in Pakistan. Pakistan also received its first shipment of liquified petroleum gas from Russia last September, marking Islamabad’s second major Russian energy purchase.
“Deputy Prime Minister Overchuk will hold meetings with the President, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister of Pakistan,” Radio Pakistan said about the Russian deputy PM’s Islamabad visit.
In a statement, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan and Russia enjoyed “cordial relations based on goodwill, amity and trust, which is reflected in the multi-faceted bilateral cooperation including in trade, energy and connectivity.”
Energy imports make up the majority of Pakistan’s external payments and discounted imports from Russia offer a respite as Islamabad faces an economic crisis. It is targeting 100,000 bpd of imports from Russia, compared with the total 154,000 bpd of crude it imported in 2022, in the hopes that will lower its import bill, address a foreign exchange crisis and keep a lid on inflation.
However, the benefits are being offset by increased shipping costs and lower quality refined products compared with the fuels produced with crude from Pakistan’s main suppliers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
As a long-standing Western ally and the arch-rival of neighboring India, which historically is closer to Moscow, analysts say the crude deal would have been difficult for Pakistan to accept, but its financing needs are great.
Police, health officials removed after Pakistan polio vaccinator says she was raped on duty
- Incident occurred in Allah Baksh Jakhrani village of Jacobabad, with vaccinator telling a court she was raped while on duty
- Deputy Commissioner, Senior Superintendent of Police, District Health Officer in Jacobabad removed from positions
KARACHI: The government of the southern Sindh province said on Tuesday it had removed senior police and health officials in response to accusations of rape by a polio vaccinator in the Jacobabad district.
The incident occurred in the Allah Baksh Jakhrani village of Jacobabad, with the polio vaccinator testifying before a local court last week that she was raped while on duty.
“The Sindh Government has taken strict action following the reported negligence in the security and arrangements for polio workers in Jacobabad,” the government said in a statement.
“As a result, the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Jacobabad, the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jacobabad, and the District Health Officer (DHO) Jacobabad have been removed from their positions.”
On Monday, Provincial Health Minister Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho took notice of the alleged rape and instructed police to provide her round-the-clock security.
“Our female polio workers are the backbone of the polio program and protecting them has always been the utmost priority of the program,” Dr. Pechuho said. “I am taking every necessary action to ensure that she gets the justice she deserves.”
On Sept. 9, Pakistan launched a week-long, nationwide polio vaccine campaign as the disease has spread this year beyond its traditional hot spots to areas once largely untouched by the virus.
Last week, health officials reported the first polio case in the capital, Islamabad, in 16 years. Since January, Pakistan has reported 17 new cases of polio.
One of only two countries in the world where the virus remains endemic, Pakistan recorded no new infections for a little over a year starting in 2021, the longest virus-free stretch the country had ever experienced.
Anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan are regularly marred by violence as militants target vaccination teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming that the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Pakistani PM says consultations to continue with all political parties on controversial constitutional amendments
- Government on Monday postponed tabling amendments on superior judges’ tenure, process of chief justice’s appointment
- Opposition parties, prominent jurists have rejected the proposals, saying they would abolish the trichotomy of power in country
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Monday consultations would continue with all political parties on a controversial constitutional amendment package after his coalition government postponed tabling the legislation amid outcry from opposition parties and the Pakistani legal fraternity.
The proposed amendments, an official copy of which has not been released by the government but partially leaked to the press, aim to establish a federal constitutional court, raise the retirement age of Supreme Court judges and modify the process for the appointment of the chief justice of Pakistan, among other changes to the constitution.
Opposition parties, lawyers, former judges and independent experts have widely said the amendments are aimed at increasing the government’s power in making key judicial appointments and will change the separation of powers in the South Asian nation of 240 million.
On Monday, the coalition government admitted it could not secure the required 224 votes, a two-thirds majority, needed to pass the amendments.
“Ongoing consultations with all political parties regarding the constitutional amendment will continue,” Radio Pakistan quoted Sharif as saying after he met a delegation from coalition partner, the Pakistan Peoples Party, which called on him in Islamabad under the leadership of Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
“During the meeting, it was agreed that Bhutto Zardari and other senior party leadership will play their due role in this consultation process. It was further agreed to engage political parties and hold consultation with them to reach any conclusion in the days to come.”
Sharif said amending the constitution and passing legislation were within the purview of parliament, which had been entrusted to do so by the 240 million people of Pakistan.
“He said the purpose of the proposed constitutional amendment is to ensure speedy and effective delivery of justice to the masses,” Radio Pakistan concluded.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposition party of jailed former premier Imran Khan has said the amendments are meant above all to grant an extension to incumbent Supreme Court Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who is widely believed to be aligned with the ruling coalition led by Sharif and in opposition to its chief rival, the PTI. PTI founder Khan has threatened nationwide protests against the reforms. The government denies the amendments are “individual-specific.”
Speaking in the National Assembly on Monday, Law Minister Tarar said the draft of amendments had not yet been presented before the cabinet as required under the constitution, and asked opposition parties to give “positive recommendations” instead of undue criticism.
“A special parliamentary committee has been made, which included members of all political parties, so all are invited to bring suggestions in this regard to the committee,” Tarar said.
Prominent lawyers, including Abid Zuberi, Shafqat Mehmood Chauhan, Shahab Sarki, Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan and Munir Kakar, on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the proposed amendments.
“Through the instant petition the petitioners seek to challenge the vires of the proposed constitutional package,” they stated in the petition.
“The proposed bill puts forth proposed amendments to the constitution that would transfer the vested powers of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the high courts of Pakistan as granted by the constitution to the executive and entirely annihilate the principles of independence of judiciary and suppression of power.”
Munir A Malik, a former attorney general of Pakistan who was a key leader of the 2007 street movement to restore the Supreme Court chief justice removed by then military ruler General Pervez Musharraf, said the proposed amendments would abolish the trichotomy of power — executive, legislature and judiciary — under the constitution.
“We will have a judiciary subservient to the executive and this is a frontal assault on the judicial system and the independence of the judiciary,” he told Arab News.
“I think every lawyer who believes in the rule of law will stand up against any such step which undermines the independence of the judiciary.”
Lost for seven years, Pakistani artist spots missing painting in hit TV show
- Safdar Ali Soomro last week discovered his missing painting while watching ARY production “Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum”
- Soomro had submitted two paintings to Frere Hall for display in 2017 but was later informed they had gone missing
KARACHI: A Pakistani artist who has discovered his long-lost painting featured in a popular television drama said this week he hoped to reclaim the artwork after authorities launched an investigation into the matter.
Artist Safdar Ali Soomro, from district Ghotki in the southern Sindh province, told Arab News he had submitted two paintings to the Frere Hall gallery in 2017 for display. The paintings were part of his final year thesis in art and design at Sindh University. However, he was later informed that both paintings had gone missing along with those by other artists.
In a dramatic turn of events, seven years later, Soomro was last week watching the popular TV soap “Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum,” an ARY Television production starring Fahad Mustafa and Hania Aamir, when he spotted one of his missing paintings in the background. Soomro took to Facebook and wrote a post saying his lost painting had appeared in episode 17 of the drama at the 22:30 mark.
“I was happy but hurt at the same time,” Soomro told Arab News. “It was clear that Frere Hall had committed a fraud.”
“After seeing my painting, I immediately called Frare Hall, but they didn’t pick my phone.”
Frere Hall management could not be reached for comment, but the drama’s producer Badar Mehmood said the production team had rented the space shown in the soap and was not allowed to place or remove anything there.
“The management of the space can better explain from where the painting came,” Mehmood told Arab News, saying the show’s production team had nothing to do with the stolen painting.
On Monday, Provincial Culture and Tourism Minister Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah formed a two-member committee to investigate the matter, giving it seven days to submit a report and recommend actions.
“If any negligence or lapse is found, action will be taken,” spokesperson culture department Shabbir Ali Babar said, quoting the minister. “Young artists are our assets, we will not tolerate injustice.”
Soomro said he hoped the investigation would bear results.
“It would have been a pleasant surprise to see my painting in a drama, but when I saw it, it reminded me of the fraud that was committed,” Soomro said. “Finding it is like recovering a lost child.”
Pakistan urges upgrading bilateral mechanisms for economic, defense cooperation with US
- Delegation-level talks held between Pakistan and the United States in Islamabad
- Trade, energy, security, health, climate change and counter-terrorism discussed
ISLAMABAD: Acting US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, John Bass, held delegation-level talks with Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, with Islamabad urging the upgradation of bilateral mechanisms for economic and defense cooperation.
Ties between Islamabad and Washington, once close allies, have just started to warm after some years of frosty relations, mostly due to concerns about Pakistan’s alleged support of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies this support.
Relations strained further under the government of former prime minister Imran Khan, who ruled from 2018-22 and antagonized Washington throughout his tenure, welcoming the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 and later accusing Washington of being behind attempts to oust him. Washington has dismissed the accusations.
The government of PM Shehbaz Sharif who took over after Khan and is now in its second term has tried to mend ties but analysts widely believe the United States will not seek a significant broadening of ties with Islamabad in the near future but remain mostly focused on security cooperation, especially on counterterrorism and Afghanistan.
“The two sides held wide ranging discussions on the entire spectrum of bilateral relations, including progress on the existing dialogue mechanisms on trade, energy, security, health, climate change and counter-terrorism,” the foreign office said in a statement after Baloch’s meeting with Bass.
“The Foreign Secretary noted the importance attached by Pakistan to its relations with the United States. She underlined the need to upgrade the bilateral mechanisms, especially in the economic and defense fields, and working toward building a broad based and meaningful bilateral relationship.”
The statement said Bass thanked Baloch for the opportunity to “engage substantively on issues of mutual interest.”
“He said the US desires to partner with Pakistan in its efforts to strengthen and stabilize the economy,” the foreign office said. “He expressed appreciation for the resilience shown by Pakistan in the face of recent challenges like floods and terrorist attacks.”
