Government making efforts to resume PIA flights to UK: Ishaq Dar

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar said Saturday that the government was making efforts to revive PIA flights to and from the United Kingdom as soon as possible, APP reported.

Speaking to the Pakistani diaspora in London, the deputy prime minister stated, “We have made every effort, even we changed the laws as per the latest requirements of the Aviation Authority of UK to solve the issue of resumption of PIA flights.”

Resumption of PIA flights: UK says working closely with govt at technical level

He claimed that due to the irresponsible remarks made by a minister in the previous Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government, all Pakistani aircraft operating in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the Western World were grounded.

According to Dar, the government is outsourcing Islamabad International Airport and privatizing PIA.

He stated that the procedure was moving swiftly and might be completed by the 10th of the next month.

He emphasised that Pakistan placed a great value on its long-standing alliance with the United Kingdom and that the Pakistani diaspora served as the true centre of the two countries’ bilateral relationship.

Dar meets UK’s foreign secretary

“I believe that the British Pakistanis have proved to be the most articulate, the most diverse, and the most effective and vibrant who are contributing not only to the development of the host country but also that of Pakistan,” he added.

He highlighted that the British Pakistani community also happened to be the most politically active community among overseas communities in the UK. “We have two cabinet members, 15 members in the House of Commons, 11 in the House of Lords, and hundreds of councilors, and mayors and deputy mayors.”

Recalling the worst economic and security situation in the country in 2013, the DPM said the major international financial institutions were declaring Pakistan’s economy as a politically unstable country, projecting it to default within six months. They were also projecting that it might take more than a decade to get out of the economic quagmire.

Dar holds talk with UK Minister for Justice

However, he maintained that only one and half years after coming into power, the PML-N government managed to streamline the country’s economy in the right direction.

He informed that the food inflation came back to only 2% from double-digit, while the GDP growth recorded 6%.

Pakistan became the best stock market in Asia and 5th best in the World, he added.

By 2017, he said Pakistan became the 24th global economy. However, he said in post 2018 era, the next government’s bad governance resulted in declining the rank to 47 in 2022, which he said was the saddest part of the country’s economy.

As regards, terrorism, the deputy prime minister said in 2013, economy, extremism and electricity loadshedding were the three biggest challenges that were overcome by the PML-N government due to its hard work and prudent policies. .

The deputy prime minister expressed his disappointment over change of policy by the PTI government in 2022 due to which violence and terrorism came back to the country.

He said as a result of the PTI government’s policy of dialogue with Afghanistan based militants, 102 hardened criminals were freed from jails who were involved in killing school children and disgracing Pakistani flag in Malakand.

Dar expressed the government’s commitment to uproot the terrorism from the country again.