• Demands immediate halt to Gaza bombing; finalises appointments to key NAB roles
• Okays extradition requests for two Pakistanis
• Solangi says polls to be held in January despite weather concerns
• Registered Afghan refugees protected, only illegal immigrants to be repatriated

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for privatising Pakistan Inter­national Airlines (PIA), whose total losses have increased to Rs750 billion.

It also strongly condemned Israel’s aggression on Palestinians, calling it a blatant violation of UN resolutions and demanding an immediate halt to the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza.

The cabinet also approved the appointments of former Lahore High Court judge Sohail Nasir as deputy chairman of the National Accountability Bureau and Syed Ehtesham Qadir Shah as its prosecutor general for accountability. Both positions fell vacant last month. The appointments were later notified.

The cabinet meeting, presided over by caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, also decided that no genuine and registered Afghan refugee would be repatriated, and the ongoing crackdown would only target those staying illegally in Pakistan.

Speaking to reporters after the cabinet meeting, caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said the cabinet ratified the decisions taken in the meetings held on Jan 21 and 28 regarding the state-owned enterprises, including PIA’s privatisation.

Flanked by caretaker Privati­sation Minister Fawad Hassan Fawad, Mr Solangi said the cabinet also approved a proposal to hire the services of a consortium for financial advisory to sell off PIA.

Mr Fawad insisted on the occasion that PIA’s sale was unavoidable as its total losses had shot up to Rs750bn, or Rs12.7bn per month.

“Presently, the PIA fleet has 37 aircraft, of which 15 are already grounded. It means we are suffering such a huge loss only to fly 22 planes — and most of them have completed their flying life,” he said.

He assured that no employee of the airline would become jobless in the privatisation process.

Gaza bombing

The federal cabinet also strongly condemned Israel’s bombardment, particularly targeting civilians in Gaza, besides expressing concern over the volatile situation stemming from Israel’s illegal occupation, oppression of Palestinians for decades, and blatant violations of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions in this regard, Mr Solangi said.

The minister said the cabinet had called for an immediate halt to Israeli bombardment of civilian areas of Gaza, in addition to the lifting of a blockade of the Palestinian exclave so that its citizens could get food and relief items. The cabinet meeting also called for prompt measures to allow international aid to reach the civilians in the Gaza Strip.

The meeting stressed the need to address the Palestine issue according to the relevant UNSC resolution and by restoring the pre-1967 status of Palestine.

Mr Solangi said at the presser that no action was being taken aga­inst Afghan citizens who had proof of registration cards and had been residing in Pakistan for the last 40 years.

“The government will not act against those who have Afghan citizen cards verified by the previous Afghan government,” he said.

The Oct 31 deadline for the voluntary return only applied to those who did not have any legal document, he said, adding that thousands of illegal residents had started returning to their countries.

Mr Solangi also backed a decision of the ECP to hold general elections in January, dismissing objections from some political circles that polls should not be conducted in freezing weather to ensure maximum voter turnout. “The country’s electoral history suggests that polls were held in extreme cold and hot weather,” he added.

Elections would be held as per the ECP schedule, he said, adding that the caretaker government would provide all-out assistance to the electoral body in this regard.

On the recommendation of the Ministry of Interior, the cabinet app­roved the extradition of two Pak­istani citizens — of Shahzad Ahmed, son of Wali Muhammad Qure­shi, to the UAE in a fraud case; and of Arshad Ali, son of Mazhar Ali, to Kuwait.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2023