PIA crisis due to failed government’s policies: Imran Khan
DERA MURAD JAMALI: Chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan on Sunday stated that the crisis of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) was due to failed governmental policies.
In a brief talk with reporters before the start of the rally here, he said the government did not take the nation into confidence while taking any decision on matters of national importance. The issue of PIA’s privatization should have been discussed in the Parliament, he added.
He said input from all stakeholders was necessary before taking any step or measures.
Talking about the National Action Plan (NAP), Khan said that its implementation was the responsibility of the Federal Government. The police and other security institutions would win the war on terror, he added.
The PTI chief stated that party would participate in Karachi by-elections.
5-point charter of demands
PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Sunday presented a five-point charter of demands, threatening the government that he would take to streets if the demands went not met.
Addressing a large rally here, Imran called for reduction in prices of diesel, kerosene oil and petrol by Rs 20 per liter and Rs 5 respectively.
He said the second demand pertained to reversal of infrastructure taxes on gas prices and the newly imposed taxes on electricity, besides cutting electricity rates by Rs 3 per unit.
He also called for making the Federal Board of Revenue a completely autonomous body as some Rs 700 billion was corrupted in the department annually.
The third demand related to the prevailing PIA crisis. The PIA’s privatization process should be stopped immediately. Moreover, the government to appoint professionals in key institutions like the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) instead of favouring relatives of the ministers, he stressed.
Imran Khan also asked the government to release funds for payment to workers and employees of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and other institutions, who had not received their salaries for last five months.
He also urged the federal government to bring back looted money from abroad. He also asked Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and his sons to declare their assets, both in the country and abroad.
He said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had on record told the National Assembly that Pakistanis had some 200 billion dollars in banks abroad. Pakistani nationals, he said, had bought property worth Rs 650 billion in Dubai during last two years. Nawaz’s son, he alleged, was living in a flat in London of Rs 200 billion.
From where his much money had come which the Pakistanis had spent aboard, he questioned.
He said the Nawaz government has taken some Rs5000 billion loan during last two and a half years.
In case the government did not accede to his demands he would again be compelled to come on roads for their acceptance, he warned.
Imran alleged that the government was looting national assets in the name of privatization. First the institutions were destroyed and then the process for their privatization was started. Both PIA and the Pakistan Steel were profitable organizations, but they were destroyed.
Nawaz’s steel mill in Jeddah was running in profit, while the Pakistan Steel Mill had been shut down, he regretted.
The PIA employees, he said, had protested against the privatization of their institutions, but bullets were fired on them, he added.
Imran Khan said the people of Balochistan had been deprived of their rights. Natural gas was discovered from Sui, but Quetta was provided the facility in the last.
When his party would come to power at Centre, it would give all the due rights to province, he pledged.
He said most areas of Balochistan were deprived of clean drinking water. The construction of Katchi Canal was started in 1992, but it had not been completed till today. Instead of building Orange Line Train in Lahore, had those funds been utilized for constructing this canal, some 300,000 acre land would have been irrigated, he added.
He said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project was good for the country’s progress. But Nawaz Sharif was only giving favours to his relatives. The Khyber Pakhunkhwa chief minister was not taken into confidence, but the Prime Minister was accompanied by his brother, nephew and other relatives while dealing with Chinese regarding the CPEC projects.
With the construction of western route of the CPEC, the backward areas of the country would have been benefited, but the Prime Minister first started building eastern route only to benefit Lahore, he alleged.
He regretted that the government had lost an opportunity to develop backward areas through not launching projects under the CPEC.
He said the Punjab government had obtained loan of Rs 200 billion for only 27-kilometre metro train.
Imran promised to deliver rights of Baloch people after coming into power.
He reiterated that unprecedented rigging had taken place in 2013 general elections.
The rally was also addressed by PTI leaders Jahangir Tareen and Sradar Yar Muhammad Rind.
