ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday demanded resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan over PIA pilots issue.
Parliamentary leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Senate Senator Sherry Rehman demanded resignation of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials and Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan. “The nation will respect the minister for admitting his fault and resigning,” she said while talking to the media after attending the meetingof Senate’s Aviation Committee on Thursday.
Sherry Rehman said after two hours of intense questioning, the CAA and statements of the aviation minister gave divergent and unsatisfactory replies and it is alarming that no one is taking responsibility for anything while the PIA remains grounded. She said no one could tell how many licences were issued and from where. "While we feel that this issue needed to be resolved tactfully and there was no need to go publicly over this,” she said.
Commenting on the fake degrees scandal, she said there is no certainty if the licences are fake or genuine as they have been making contradictory statements since day one. “Today, we do not even know who is actually investigating this issue,” she said. She said it is shocking that no one is ready to take responsibility.
She said the government is giving the wrong impression that the minister has satisfied the committee. “In fact the entire Civil Aviation division and the Aviation minister were not able to satisfy anyone and gave divergent and contradictory replies,” she added. She said following the meeting she doesn’t see "any ray of hope that they can stabilise the PIA." Who is responsible for the pilots and PIA’s downgrading? Do they have any action plan? We have not been given any clarification. Even we knew there is an issue which needs to be resolved but they chose to do nothing instead,” she said.
Highlighting the Roosevelt Hotel issue, she said the committee was told that the sale of a profitable hotel was “only made in anticipation of reduced business and profits after the onset of Covid-19, whereas, the task force was established way back in 2019. She said only after very recent public furore this notorious task force was de-notified and the relevant Aviation Ministry was actually included. “No contradiction has come from any quarter about alleged interest of the Trump family and the assorted advisors in the federal government. The Aviation minister only claimed feebly that no such plan was on the anvil," she added. “This is not the time to sell Roosevelt Hotel New York, when due to pandemic the property prices have gone down significantly and it will result in loss to Pakistan as we won’t get the right price,” she added.
Meanwhile, the PPP said the government has not yet taken any notice of the threat by Ehsanullah Ehsan to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. “Ehsanullah Ehsan fled the safe house but the government has not come out clean on his escape. This is the reason that the people and PPP call Imran Khan as “Taliban Khan”, said Secretary Information PPP Dr Nafisa Shah while addressing a press conference along with Deputy Information Secretary of PPP Ms Palwasha Khan, Haider Zaman and Nazir Dhoki.
The PPP leaders also claimed that US passport of Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda is still valid and the PPP will approach Election Commission of Pakistan with this valid passport. Dr Nafisa Shah said eversince Prime Minister Imran Khan was imposed on Pakistan, the country is being engulfed by crises one after another. “The PTI has not yet responded regarding its relationship with Abraj Group which is yet another financier of Imran Khan,” she said, adding that the government has also not replied to questions about the mega corruption in BRT and Malam Jabba projects.
Palwasha Khan said that the threat by Ehsanullah Ehsan to Bilawal is directly linked with Imran Niazi. “When the government failed to frighten Bilawal Bhutto Zardari with NAB, terrorists were brought to the fore to threaten him,” she said. She said that whenever Imran is asked about corruption by the Abraaj Group and foreign fundings of his party then threats are delivered by terrorists but he should not forget that Bilawal Bhutto is the son of a great leader who challenged these terrorists. She said that PPP will continue to raise the issue of corruption of Aleema Khan and Imran Khan and nothing can frighten us.
She said Imran’s government has started trade with India and we ask Imran Khan that on whose orders, this trade is being started through Wagah border. He said that now on 5th of August, Imran Khan will stage a drama for Kashmiri people whereas he has already sold the Kashmiri blood. Haider Zaman Qureshi said that federal minister Faisal Vawda is a cowboy whose US passport is still valid. “The passport number is 530572047 and on his birthday is mentioned as October 21, 1973 date of issuance is May 22, 2015 and expiry on May 21, 2025,” he said.
Meanwhile, PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif has demanded Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign for spoiling national flag carrier PIA’s image, causing losses of billions of rupees and embarrassing Pakistan internationally with his government’s statements that turned out to be false.
In a statement, Shahbaz said after the letter by the director general Civil Aviation Authority, there is no doubt that action must be taken against Imran Khan and the minister. He said incompetent Imran and his minister were responsible for incurring losses of billions of rupees to the national airline. He said the world will now question the authenticity of the report and the minister’s ability to read the report that led to these catastrophic consequences for PIA. He said the world would be at a loss to decide whether to trust the minister who gave such scathing statements on PM’s instruction or the CAA director general. He questioned as to who should be punished for giving the false statement by the minister on the floor of the National Assembly. Who will pay for the financial losses, who will make up for the damage to the livelihoods of expatriates. He said it is not the pilots but the prime minister and his ministers who are incompetent and inept.
