ISLAMABAD: A day after the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) protested in the National Assembly against the proposed privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday endorsed the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government’s policy to privatise state-owned enterprises (SOEs) but declared that the time was not appropriate to do so due to recession in the global market because of the spread of Covid-19.

“We are not against privatisation of PIA and its hotels and outsourcing of the (country’s) airports, but (look at) the environment in which you are going to do it,” said PML-N’s parliamentary leader Khawaja Asif.

Pointing towards PPP’s Naveed Qamar, the PML-N leader said that he had served as chairman of the Privatisation Commission in the past and admitted that these loss-making SOEs had been on the privatisation lists of past governments.

Mr Asif took “credit” for privatising the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and all the commercial banks during the PML-N government.

He said the PSM had been privatised during the military government of Gen Pervez Musharraf, but the Supreme Court reversed the government move which saved the country from facing a loss of billions of dollars.

Khawaja Asif says revival of global economy must to get good buyers

“If the (PSM) employees get a good package then it is a very good thing. If these people go home satisfied, then it is good,” declared Mr Asif, while referring to the government’s decision to privatise the PSM after offering a golden handshake to its 9,300 employees.

The PML-N leader said that his party also wanted to see off these “dead bodies” and witness increase in the government’s revenue but drew the attention of the house towards a statement of Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan in the house that the aviation industry all over the world had suffered $350bn loss due to suspension of flight operations in the wake of Covid-19.

He advised the government to wait for the revival of the global economy so that they could get good buyers.

Mr Asif also objected to inclusion of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari in the committee formed by Prime Minister Imran Khan to oversee the privatisation process, alleging that Mr Bukhari had a conflict of interest as he was the director of several foreign companies.

He said that “non-political and unelected people” had no stake in the system. He advised the government to bring people of “good repute” to oversee the process of privatisation.

The PML-N leader blasted the government for its handling of the Covid-19 and termed shortage of petrol in the country an “example of mismanagement”.

Mentioning a number of contradictory statements of Prime Minister Imran Khan about the pandemic, he held the government responsible for the spread of the disease in the country, adding that “there is a governance crisis in the country”.

Besides Mr Asif, a number of other opposition members also criticised the government for its handling of Covid-19, confused policy on the lockdown and shortage of petrol in the country.

PPP’s Shazia Marri and Abdul Qadir Patel also blasted the federal government for its alleged policy of confrontation with the Sindh government over the Covid-19 handling.

Mr Patel demanded that the prime minister should be arrested in the light of the sugar commission report and claimed that the government was looking for some scapegoats to save real culprits.

Responding to opposition’s criticism and winding up the debate, Adviser to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan in his first speech in the parliament since his appointment last month assured the National Assembly that elements involved in creating hurdles in passing the benefit of reduced prices of petroleum products to the masses would be brought to book.

Mr Awan said the government had started reforms in institutions but forces of the status quo started working against it. He announced that the prime minister had ordered immediate formulation of a law to prevent conflict of interest.

The adviser said that the privatisation of the PSM, PIA and other institutions would be completed in the most transparent manner and as per the law.

He said the credit went to the PTI government for exposing the sugar mafia despite the threat of instability of the government. During the PTI government, he said, all relevant people were questioned by the commission.

The adviser said the parliamentary committee on Covid-19 was still working and it would be reactivated. Defending the government’s policy on the lockdown, he said the good thing about it was that it maintained the food chain in the country whereas countries like the US and the UK had not been able to do so.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2020