ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information Technology (IT) Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Wednesday told a Senate committee that a breakthrough was expected in the recovery of $800 million from Etisalat, which had bought 26pc shares of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) in 2005 at a price of $2.6 billion.

He was responding to questions from members of the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications about nonpayment of increase in pensions to more than 40,000 former PTCL employees since 2010.

The Middle East-based company delayed the payment to the government after Pakistan failed to transfer all PTCL properties to Etisalat under the agreement.

Nonetheless, the committee met to discuss reasons why PTCL pensioners had been denied the increase in pension despite orders from the Supreme Court.

Responding to questions from Senator Imamuddin Shouqeen about sale of PTCL properties, the IT minister said the telecom company has been stopped from selling its properties.

“The government also stopped the profits of shareholders,” the IT minister told the committee.

After the committee meeting, media asked the IT minister to clarify his remarks on shareholder profits. He responded briefly by saying that the government had held meetings with PTCL management and the matter will be resolved within a month.

He also told the committee members that he would take up pensioners’ issue with the finance minister within a week.

The meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications was held at Parliament House.

Chaired by Senator Rubina Khalid, the meeting was attended by senators Rukhsana Zuberi, Taj Mohammad Afridi, Mian Mohammad Ateeq, Dr Ghous Mohammad Khan Niazi and senior officers from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, PTCL and Pakistan Telecommunication Employees Trust (PTET).

Senator Imamuddin Shouqeen was a special invitee.

In compliance with the Supreme Court decision, Rs175 million had been made to pensioners by March.

The committee was further informed that the cash implication of granting the pension to the pensioners as per policy of the government would be Rs39.1 billion. It was revealed that PTCL will need to make payment of the above amount to the trust if payment is to be made to the PTET pensioners.

Reviewing the statistics, Senator Imamuddin Shouqeen was of the view that this was an extremely serious issue.

“People who dedicated their lives to the service of this country are being deprived of their lifelong savings at a crucial stage of their lives,” the senator said.

The committee chairperson, Senator Rubina Khalid, stressed the need for alleviating the troubles of pensioners.

“The government is deliberately delaying payments to pensioners. We will like the IT minister to personally settle the problem of pensioners,” the chairperson said.

Senator Rukhsana Zuberi was of the view that the organisation had the funds and that now it was time that the committee was informed about the schedule of payments.

IT Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that he was committed to resolving this issue at the earliest to alleviate the plight of pensioners.

The committee decided that this matter will be taken up again when it meets on Jan 2.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2018