PESHAWAR: Pakistan Peoples Party has strongly reacted to a statement of Privatisation Commission Chaiman Mohammad Zubair regarding downsizing in Pakistan International Airlines and described it an anti-workers policy of the government.

PPP provincial president Khanzada Khan said in a statement here on Monday that his party would strongly oppose the government’s policy regarding retrenchment of 50 per cent employees of PIA.

“The ruling party has started looting national institutions by sacking the employees at its free will but PPP is there to raise voice against the injustices,” he said.

Mr Khan said that it was on record that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had always sacked the employees of different departments and accommodated its own people in violation of the rules and regulations.

“History is witness that PPP has always recruited people, mainly the poor, and PML-N has sacked them whenever it came into power,” he said.

The PPP, Mr Khan said, was not opposed to privatisation policy rather it supported the supervision of private sector but it did not mean to destroy the entire industrial sector at the hands of few blue-eyed persons.

The industrial sector in the country, he said, was already in bad condition due to energy crisis.

If the owners continued sacking employees, the ratio of unemployment would increase manifold and no government would control it in future.

The PPP leader said that government should discourage the cartels, which were active to deprive consumers of their due rights. “Keeping in view the miserable condition of the institutions like MCB, UBL, KESC and stories of corruption in these, the government should avoid privatization and retrenchment otherwise the people would take to the streets against it,” he added.

Mr Khan suggested that the government should form a high level parliamentary committee to review the performance of the so far privatised institutions so that it could proceed with its planning otherwise it should stop privatisation and retrenchment.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2014