Okay, agreed, PIA is performing way below par and it needs revolutionary steps to put it back on track. But does it necessarily mean we need to privatize it? No.
Rulers of this country aren’t inefficient only; they are irrational, unreasonable and nonsense too. If you closely look at the list of ‘reasons’ they are putting up to justify the case for privatization of PIA, you will notice that each and every one of these reasons trace back to corrupt political mafia and bureaucracy. Huge losses, over employment on political grounds, failure to cope up with advancement in technology, etc. are the offshoots of a core problem rather than problems themselves.
Allow me to take one ‘reason’ of this list to elaborate my point. PIA is over employed, indeed. As compared to international average ratio of 150 employees per aircraft, PIA has to feed 776 employees. To put things into perspective, Boeing 777 airplane series, which is the biggest plane in PIA fleet, can accommodate around 450 passengers at maximum where it has to bear financial load of 776 employees. But that huge imbalance wasn’t created out of thin air; rather it was systematic looting and corruption of ruling elite which has been using government jobs as bounty for its supporters for decades. My question is; why those political leaders, who use their influence for this over employment, are not being blamed? Why most of them are still enjoying VIP status and muddling into affairs of other institutions? Why can’t they be tried in military courts for faster results regarding cases of corruption and use of political influence?
Many of you might not believe that Emirates Airlines got its very first plane leased from PIA in 1985. During infancy, pilots and cabin crew of Emirates used to get training from PIA Training Centre. And guess what, PIA was not privatized at that time.
The other aspect of this privatization is direct dictation of IMF which has stripped off Pakistan government of any string of independence, integrity or uprightness. It seems that govt. personnel are there for clerical work whereas all the strategy, planning and even implementation plan is devised by IMF. It doesn’t need a genius to find out that the more leverage you give to these financial institutions, they destroy you more. Our government, on the other hand, is so keen to implement IMF’s agenda that it doesn’t even mind shedding blood of its very own people to safeguard the interest of IMF. Will you allow me to call it treason or treachery?
Our ruling elite are ready to sell the whole of Pakistan for their vested interests and they don’t care what happens to public as a result. Poor performance of PIA has nothing to do with it being a nationalized institute; it’s meddling of political figures into its affairs that has turned the situation from bad to worse to unbearable. For this, our political elite should be tried in military courts and those who have used their political influence to get their party workers employed should be held accountable. It will uproot the ‘real reason’ for mindboggling losses at PIA and once ‘real reason’ is taken care of, symptoms will go off by themselves in very quick time.
PIA can be a pride of Pakistan, for that, it doesn’t need to be privatized.
