" Aik Wazeer Njkari Ne Kaha Tha PIA Masla Hai Aik Rupay Mein Bhi Beech Deingay," Sabiq CEO PIA
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00:00One thing that should be kept in mind is that the privatization of PIA is under a lot of constraint.
00:08The last few years were not good for PIA.
00:13PIA restrictions were imposed on European sectors.
00:18Other than that, PIA faced a lot of problems.
00:21What year are you talking about, Mr. Musharraf?
00:24Mr. Musharraf, what year exactly did this start?
00:27Are you saying that the last few years were not good for PIA?
00:31If you look at the last five years,
00:34the recent memory shows that the reputation of PIA as an airline was damaged.
00:42Previously, the reputation of PIA was not as good as it is now.
00:47But in the last five years, the restrictions imposed on the European sector
00:50and flights were not able to take off,
00:53the issues of training of pilots were mishandled,
00:56and in the era of PTI…
00:59Are you talking about the statement given by Mr. Sarwar in the era of PTI?
01:02Or when Mr. Arshad Malik came and the matter became controversial,
01:05or are you talking about that time period?
01:08Look, I am talking about the time period.
01:11Let me give you another example.
01:14Once upon a time, there was a privatization minister
01:17who said that PIA is such a big problem for us that we will sell it for a single rupee.
01:22So if you are privatizing and you are consistently running down the company,
01:27by the people who are very responsible,
01:30then obviously when you take it to the bidding process,
01:33then you will have to make an effort to tell the investor
01:36that this company still has such good factors in it,
01:43that if you invest, it can be properly sold.
01:46So I will repeat my question, Mr. Musharraf.
01:49Was this matter more serious after Mr. Sarwar Khan's statement or after Mr. Arshad Malik's arrival?
01:59Look, as far as Mr. Sarwar's statement is concerned,
02:02I think it was an unwise statement.
02:05And the way he spoke and did not deal with the nuances in it,
02:11it really damaged PIA and the entire aviation sector of Pakistan.
02:16Look, even in the worst cases, PIA has very good skilled people.
02:22If any airline in Pakistan's aviation industry has a lot of strength,
02:27then it is PIA who has skilled people.
02:30But PIA also has problems.
02:32And the problems of PIA are such that due to which PIA faced losses,
02:36and there was mismanagement in it,
02:39and with time, the losses kept increasing.
02:44When you are going into privatization, there should have been communication on these things as well.
02:48Right. Now tell me, at this time,
02:51what was supposed to happen, happened yesterday.
02:53And after that, the way the international media picked it up,
02:56that was another story as well.
02:58But what should be done now, Mr. Musharraf?
03:01Is it a solution if this process is made more transparent going forward?
03:07Or should more bidders be added,
03:11and the process should be made more transparent?
03:16What is the solution to this?
03:18That PIA should be privatized properly.
03:20It is a white elephant.
03:21It has to be privatized.
03:22We have no other solution.
03:24But what should be done to make this privatization reach a logical conclusion?
03:30Look, one of the two,
03:32I think the policy has to be clearly adopted.
03:35One, what you said is often heard,
03:38that PIA should be removed from the government budget.
03:43And in the current economic situation of the country,
03:47and our fiscal situation,
03:49of course, this is a very big need to be done.
03:51But one policy can be that you have to remove it from the budget,
03:55and in that case, I think,
03:56the way privatization happened just now,
03:58there are more chances of it happening,
04:00that the lowest bidder,
04:03which can be the lowest bidder in the literal sense of the word,
04:07will come to you.
04:09And one way can also be that you plan and conduct that process in such a way
04:15that we have to remove it from Pakistan's budget,
04:19but at the same time,
04:20we have to try to give Pakistan a good airline.
04:24When you do that,
04:25then you will not privatize the company in a battered state,
04:31but you will try to give some task to its management,
04:34that you fix these things in so many months,
04:37and the issues about its systems should be answered,
04:41and with this, a transparent, active communication should be done,
04:46so that investors get their confidence.
04:48Got your point.
04:49And the lowest bid, unfortunately,
04:51we have received 10 billion,
04:5310 billion is nothing in comparison to Pakistan International Airlines,
04:56whose 85 billion was kept,
05:00and 8.5 times less than that has been bid.
05:05So this is a point of concern,
05:07it is a matter that should be solved,
05:09but it is not happening.