January 18, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 27, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 17: People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) on Wednesday criticised the privatization policy and expressed its concern over the sacking of employees from various organizations, including Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

Speaking at a news conference at the party’s media centre, PPP MNAs Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, Khalid Iqbal Memon and Syed Qurban Ali Shah termed the privatization policy of the regime as “anti-worker and anti-poor.”

They called for immediate reinstatement of 1,500 employees, recently retrenched from the HBL. The PPP leaders were of the view that the privatization policy was resulting into unemployment.

Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed, who is also the head of the party’s labour wing, claimed that several institutions had already laid off considerable number of staff after their privatization.

He regretted that the PIA had also sacked 149 people, while the management of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL) transferred its employees far away from their home districts just to force them to leave the job.

He said there were 31,099 employees in the HBL in 1996 during the Benazir government, and the number had now come down to 16,314, while on the other hand the banks deposits had been doubled since that time. He said the banks had become bonded labour houses for its employees after their privatization.

Syed Qurban Ali Shah termed the HBL privatization as a classic case of corruption, saying the government first pumped Rs13 billion into the bank before its privatization.

He said the bank had 1,400 branches throughout the country and its 20-storey head office building in Karachi was alone worth billions of rupees.

Mr Shah said the government was now planning to privatize Pakistan State Oil (PSO). Instead of these profit earning institutions, he suggested, the government should go for privatization of PIA and Wapda as these were causing losses of billions of rupees to the national exchequer.