• Cabinet approves privatisation of First Women Bank
• Directs PMDC to stop doctors from prescribing nutraceuticals

ISLAMABAD: A day after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) barred the caretakers from taking any step vis-à-vis Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), including its privatisation, the federal cabinet on Tuesday approved a plan for restructuring of the national flag carrier.

The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar.

The ECP had asked the caretaker government to “refrain from taking any further steps, including signing of an agreement” on privatisation of PIA or its entities, till its formal clearance.

In a letter to the cabinet secretary less than a week ahead of the general elections, the ECP reminded the federal government of Article 230 of the Constitution that explains the roles and limitations of the caretakers and demanded that all the relevant cabinet documentation be furnished to it.

“The election commission has directed that the caretaker government refrain from taking any further steps, including signing of an agreement [on PIA privatisation] in this regard till a decision is made by this Commission under Section 230 of the Constitution,” the letter said.

According to the PM Office, the cabinet approved the restructuring of PIA on the recommendations of the privatisation division.

The cabinet, in its previous meeting, had approved the appointment of an adviser for financial and administrative restructuring of the airline.

On Tuesday, the meeting was apprised that the adviser had formulated a financial restructuring plan of PIA in line with international precedents under which the airline would be divided into two companies — Top-Co and Hold-Co.

PIA’s core operations of engineering, ground handling, cargo, flight kitchen and training will be incorporated into Top-Co, while other entities such as Precision Engineering Complex, PIA Investment Limited and other subsidiaries and properties will be incorporated into Hold-Co.

These measures would help attract capital investors to PIA, the meeting told.

The cabinet directed its sub-committee on privatisation to deal with the matters related to settlement of government-owned enterprises with PIA as soon as possible.

Interestingly, three successive governments had in the past approved the restructuring of PIA — the PPP in 2008, the PML-N in 2013 and the PTI in 2018.

In 2013, a parliamentary committee was apprised that total liability of the national flag carrier was over Rs254 billion and it was increasing every year by over Rs50bn.

In 2016, Pakistan International Airlines Corporation was converted in to a public limited company as Pakistan International Airlines Company Limited as the airline’s liability rose to Rs300bn.

First Women Bank

The cabinet also approved the privatisation of First Women Bank Limited on the recommendations of the Ministry of Privatisation.

On the recommendations of the Ministry of Law and Justice as well as the Peshawar High Court chief justice, the cabinet approved the conversion of four out of eight accountability courts in Peshawar into special courts.

The meeting also approved the appointment of judges to these courts.

The remaining courts will continue to function as accountability courts. These changes will not incur any additional burden on the national exchequer.

Nutraceuticals

The cabinet directed the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) to stop health practitioners from prescribing nutraceuticals to the patients.

It asked the PMDC to ensure that doctors do not prescribe vitamins, multivitamins, minerals and over-the-counter (OCT) nutraceuticals.

The cabinet directed the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan to maintain a list of vitamins, multivitamins, minerals and OCT nutraceuticals as per international standards, and to contact the provincial governments to ensure that such nutraceuticals are not prescribed by the health practitioners.

Ikram Junaidi also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2024