Opposition slams govt for allegedly curbing media freedom

ISLAMABAD  – Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Thursday informed the Sen­ate that as many as 700 employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) who were inducted on fake degrees and political ground during past gov­ernments tenure have been termi­nated so far.

In response to various supple­mentary questions during Question Hour, the Minister said that those employees were not only terminated but also criminal and judicial actions were taken against them.

Regarding fake licence of pilots, the Minister said that licenses of 262 pilots were found suspicious. 

After due verification process, 50 pilots have been terminated, 32 sus­pended while cases of remaining pi­lots were pending in various courts.

He said the opposition should ap­preciate the present government’s action against pilots possessing sus­picious licenses. 

The Minister said restrictions on the PIA flight operation to the Eu­ropean countries would be lifted af­ter International Civil Aviation Orga­nization’s safety audit in October or November this year.

He said flight operations to six Eu­ropean/ United Kingdom countries have been suspended. Approximate loss incurred due to closure of flight after statement of June, 2020 regard­ing Pakistan Pilot’s fake licenses was Rs 7.9 billion during last six months.

Since operation to/ from Europe/ UK (Italy, Spain, Norway, Denmark, and France) has been suspended Since June 30, 2020 and no exact fig­ures could be calculated. 

The Senate was also informed that various projects have been started under Naya Pakistan Housing Pro­gram (NPHP) to realize the prom­ise made by Prime Minister Im­ran Khan for construction of five million houses. Adviser on Parlia­mentary Affairs Babar Awan told the House during question hour on Thursday that 45,000 low cost hous­ing units are under construction all over the country including in Lahore, Nowshera, Islamabad and Peshawar.

The Adviser said that the pri­vate sectors have submitted 180 proposals to Naya Pakistan Hous­ing and Development Authority for construction of more than three million housing units. Out of these 45 projects comprising 70,000 housing units have been shortlist­ed. Work on these projects would start very soon.

Meanwhile,the Opposition parties on Thursday in the Senate slammed the PTI government for allegedly curbing media freedom by propos­ing new law in a move to regulate all forms of media including digital me­dia. The Treasury strongly respond­ed to the criticism by saying that they opposed any move to impose restrictions on freedom of expres­sion but it has become a trend to bash the country’s security institu­tions without proof every time when a journalist is attacked by some un­identified suspects.

The Parliamentary Leader of PPP in the House Senator Sherry Rehman speaking on a point of public impor­tance said that the government on one side was making important leg­islation through ordinances and on the other side, it is reluctant to lay all these proposed laws before the House. “Higher Education Commis­sion (HEC) Ordinance is neither be­ing laid in the House nor is it becom­ing a bill. What is the purpose of this Parliament if they want to run the country through ordinances? This is extremely worrying.”

Article source: https://nation.com.pk/04-Jun-2021/opposition-slams-govt-for-allegedly-curbing-media-freedom