Earlier on Thursday, presiding over a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP), Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had approved the privatisation plan for both PIA and Pakistan Steel Mills. In a statement issued on Saturday, Asif Zardari warned the government against the privatisation of the PIA besides warning the potential buyers to desist from buying the national airline in their own interest. He said that whoever buys the PIA may have to face consequences of being part of a “commercial undertaking based on criminal motives”. Zardari said that the loss-making ventures recently undertaken by the PIA raised doubts whether these were deliberately designed to increase its liabilities and thereby create justification for its hurried privatisation. “Both PM Abbasi and the disqualified prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, are conspiring to sell the PIA and PSM most probably to their undisclosed aides,” Bilawal said.

Source: Pakistan Today February 17, 2018 17:10 UTC