ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former president Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday said he was ready to extend a helping hand to the government to fix the country’s crumbling economy while demanding an end to the victimization of his opposition Pakistan Peoples Party party through what he said was selective and politically motivated accountability.
Zardari, the widower of the assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, addressed the National Assembly for the first time after his arrest on money laundering charges by an anti-corruption watchdog on June 10.
“Let us sit together to talk about an economic policy,” the former president said on the floor of the house while the budget for fiscal year to June 2020 was being debated, adding that governments “keep changing, but let us make an economic policy that withstands all these changes.”
Participating in the budget debate, Zardari advised the government to “stop accountability” and move forward.
“My arrest doesn’t make any difference [to my party], but the average Pakistani is scared that if Mr. Zardari can be arrested, what will happen to him,” he said.
Reacting to Zardari’s statement, former finance minister of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party Asad Umar said accountability for political reasons was “neither good for the country nor for the person doing it.”
However, he added that it was the constitutional responsibility of parliament to hold criminals and corrupt elements accountable.
“If someone has stolen the country’s money, then there must be a system of reward and punishment for it. There is no politics in it,” Umar said.
Following a week of ruckus in the National Assembly, opposition parties and the government agreed on Wednesday not to disrupt the debate on the proposed federal budget presented by the PTI government on June 11.
“We completely reject this budget [which is like] a sword slitting the common man’s throat,” Shehbaz Sharif, leader of opposition in the National Assembly, said on Wednesday in a three-hour-long speech.
The federal budget is expected to be approved by the National Assembly next week.
Ex-president Zardari says willing to help government fix ailing economy
Ex-president Zardari says willing to help government fix ailing economy
- Addresses Pakistan’s National Assembly for first time since his arrest on money laundering charges on June 10
- The federal budget is expected to be approved by parliament next week
Pakistan’s PIA to resume London flights from Mar. 29 after six-year gap
- Newly privatized airline says will operate four weekly flights from Islamabad to London
- PIA is already operating three fllights per week to British city Manchester, says airline
ISLAMABAD: The newly privatized Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will operate direct flights to London starting Mar. 29, 2026, after six years, its spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday.
The PIA resumed its flight operations to the UK in October this year with its inaugural flight to Manchester. The airline is currently operating three weekly flights to the British city.
Britain lifted restrictions on Pakistani carriers in July, nearly half a decade after grounding them following a 2020 PIA Airbus A320 crash in Karachi that killed 97 people. The disaster was followed by claims of irregularities in pilot licensing, which led to bans in the US, UK and the European Union.
“Pakistan International Airlines has announced the expansion of its operations in the United Kingdom with the resumption of flights to London,” the airline’s spokesperson said in a statement.
“Starting Mar. 29, PIA will operate four weekly flights from Islamabad to London.”
The airline said that the London flights will be operated from Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4, which it said is recognized as one of its most modern terminals.
“London was PIA’s very first international destination and remains one of its most important and attractive routes,” the spokesperson said.
Pakistan’s government succeeded in its frequent efforts to privatize the airline this month after a consortium, led by Arif Habib Group, on Dec. 23 secured a 75 percent stake in PIA for Rs135 billion ($482 million) after several rounds of bidding, valuing the airline at Rs180 billion ($643 million).
The sale marked Pakistan’s most aggressive attempt in decades to reform the debt-ridden national airline, which had accumulated more than $2.8 billion in financial losses. The government said it would end decades of state-funded bailouts and help revive the airline.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News this week, the airline’s new owner Arif Habib said he plans to renovate PIA planes, improve maintenance and flight schedule, and bring in new aircraft to revive the carrier.
Habib said he sees the region comprising the UK, the US and Canada as a “lucrative market” for the airline’s business.
“There we can increase the frequency of the flight,” he said. “We will also try to run flights to Canada from Karachi, Lahore, and I think it’s already in Islamabad.”
