I wish to congratulate the management and employees of Pakistan International Airlines on the launch of the "Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Apna Ghar Scheme" for the PIA employees on the auspicious occasion of the birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Providing shelter to every one has been one of the basic manifesto pledges of the Pakistan Peoples Party ever since it was launched over four decades ago by our founding Chairman Shaheed Zutfiqar Ali Bhutto with the electrifying slogan of "Roti, Kapra aur Makaan". Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto also laid special emphasis on workers' welfare and declared workers, labour and the wage earners as the backbone of the Party.
The present PPP-led democratic government has been pursuing with vigor the pro-worker and pro-labor policies. The reinstatement in service through an Act of the Parliament of thousands of sacked employees in the PIA and other public sector organisations and offering 12% shares to workers in these enterprises stand out as a testimony of the pro-worker policies of the government. We will continue these policies to carry forward the epic struggle, launched by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for the emancipation and empowerment of people and to give dignity to the working classes.
As part of the drive to provide shelter to the people, the government has launched the Behan Benazir Basti Scheme in Sindh to provide decent dwelling units to the poor. The Labour Ministry has devised special scheme to provide shelters to the labour. The launch today of the "Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Apna Ghar Scheme" for the PIA employees is yet another laudable initiative of the government in this direction. I once again congratulate Chief Minister, Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Minister of Defence, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Senator Faisal Raza Abidi, Managing Director PIA, Captain Muhammad Aijaz Haroon and all those whose combined efforts made this project possible. I also wish to congratulate the workers and employees of PIA who will become owners of their own houses under the Apna Ghar Scheme on a dream comes true.