That the national air carrier has been in dire straits for quite some time is well known. Like Pakistan Steel Mills, another top state-owned enterprise (SOE), Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has ceased its operations. Although the failure of PIA was expected but it still is highly disappointing.
According to media reports, over 75 flights scheduled for Sunday were cancelled on account of lack of fuel as the Pakistan State Oil (PSO) had cut oil supply to the airline owing to receivables against the airline that have touched an unprecedented high in recent months.
The situation brings to mind the events that preceded the closure of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) in 2005. PSM too had found itself pitted against an SOE, Sui Southern Gas Company Limited.
A loss-making PSM had to stop production following non-supply of gas on account of non-payment of billions of payables by the Mills. PIA, which has already inflicted a Rs 750 billion loss on the national exchequer, was required to be put on the auction block many years ago.
The lack of political will on the part of successive governments that had turned both PIA and PSM into employment bureaus for vote politics, massively contributed to the slide of both the major SOEs.
Frankly speaking, the selloff of PSM was torpedoed by our Supreme Court which was then led by Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
The apex committee of the newly-formed proactive Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) is expected to show realism by accepting the challenge of privatizing both the public-sector entities as early as possible.
Enough is enough. Needless to say, it is taxpayer’s money that has been squandered by the State day in and day out to provide lifelines to virtually dead entities.
Nargis Masood Kiyani (Rawalpindi)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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