March 1, 2003	Saturday	Zul Hijjah 27, 1423

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RAWALPINDI, Feb 28: The government on Friday decided to revert its decision to take back national flag carrier, Pakistan International  Airline (PIA), from defence  minister  after succumbing to intense pressure from Patriots, sources revealed.

Defence minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal, who heads the Patriots group, was particularly annoyed over the decision to place the airline under the prime minister’s secretariat.

Patriots, a dissident group of Pakistan People’s Party comprising almost 20 members of National Assembly, is one of the major groups on which the government’s majority in the lower house rests.

The strength of Patriots at the time of formation of the group was around 10, which subsequently grew to 20s.

Asked if the position of the chairman PIA, Ahmed Saeed would be compromised because of the development, the source said, it isn’t like that as the he had not got anything to do with the initial decision.

The government a couple of days back had notified the transfer of PIA from the control of defence ministry to the PM secretariat. Mr Ahmed Saeed had recently replaced Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Nawaz, defence secretary as the chairman of the airline.