QUETTA: Transporters in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province continued their protest on Thursday, they said, after the failure of a second round of talks with the government over a new security plan for highways.
An alliance of transporters in the provincial capital of Quetta has been protesting for the last two weeks the government’s new standard operating procedures (SOPs) aimed at providing maximum security to passengers traveling through one of the key provincial highways in Pakistan.
The government in the restive province last month announced to revise its security plan for the Quetta-Taftan highway after gunmen killed nine passengers, who hailed from the eastern Punjab province, after abducting them from a bus near the Noshki district in Balochistan.
The second round of talks between representatives of the transporters and the government failed and the transporters said they would continue their protest in the provincial capital.
“A 12-member delegation of transporters met with the government’s negotiation committee today for the 2nd round of talks in order to discuss concerns of local transporters, but the meeting ended without any result,” Mehmood Badini, a representative of the transporters’ alliance who was part of the talks, told Arab News on Thursday.
Transporter's association camp during a public transport strike against the new highway security plan in Quetta on May 2, 2024. (AN photo)
“We stand on our demands but the government officials have said that they will call a high-level meeting to discuss our demands in the coming days. We have decided to continue our strike on all major routes unless our demands are met.”
The mineral-rich province of Balochistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baloch separatist groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad. The militants usually target police and security forces or infrastructure.
Although the government says it has quelled the insurgency, violence in Balochistan has persisted. The attack in Noshki sparked widespread condemnation and prompted the provincial government to revise its security plan for highways.
Saeed Ahmed Lehri, chairman of the All Balochistan Transporters Alliance, said the transporters were on a strike at the N-40 Quetta-Taftan highway, N-85 Quetta-Makran Highway, N-25 Quetta-Karachi highway and N-65 Balochistan-Sindh highway against government’s new travel security SOPs.
Transporter's association camp during a public transport strike against the new highway security plan in Quetta on May 2, 2024. (AN photo)
“The government has established new security check-posts at the N-40 Quetta-Taftan highway and security forces are directed to check all buses at every check-post,” he said. “The New SOPs would cause delay for passengers and drivers, even the government is going to prevent transporters from the deployment of two private security guards inside buses at their own expense.”
Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, said they would keep negotiating with the transporters in the coming days to find a “concrete solution” to the issue.
“The government’s prime responsibility is the passengers’ safety and security, hence we won’t step back from this stance,” he told Arab News. “But there will be more rounds of talks with the transporters.”
Rind said the government had revised its security plan and decided to establish new security check-posts at all highways after the Noshki attack.
“Balochistan has a vast landscape while in some areas mobile networks do not work,” he added.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday met with the ambassadors of Pakistan’s key allies China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar in Islamabad, as the foreign office expressed concern over a “serious escalation” in Middle East tensions.
Sharif’s meetings with the envoys took place a day after Iran launched missiles against a US air base in Qatar on Monday, causing no casualties, in retaliation for the US dropping 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs on Iranian underground nuclear facilities over the weekend. Hours later, US President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement of an Israel-Iran ceasefire agreement, suggesting he may have bombed Tehran’s rulers back to the negotiating table.
Tensions have remained high since June 13, when Israel struck Iran’s nuclear facilities and targeted senior military leadership. Iran has since retaliated with repeated missile strikes against Israel, raising fears of a wider regional conflict and prompting international calls for restraint.
“Pakistan expresses its deep concern and alarm at the serious escalation in the security situation in the region as a result of attacks against USA’s Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement on Tuesday, urging all sides to exercise restraint and respect fundamental principles of international law.
On Monday morning, Sharif held separate meetings with Saudi Ambassador Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki and Qatari envoy Ali Mubarak Ali Essa Al-Khater.
“Pakistan will continue to work closely with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for peace in the region through dialogue and diplomacy” the PM said on his X account.
Sharif also met Qatari envoy Al-Khater to express solidarity with the Gulf country following Iran’s attack on the air base.
In the afternoon, the premier met China’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Jiang Zaidong, who, according to a statement from Sharif’s office, “lauded the proactive and positive role being played by Pakistan at every diplomatic forum, including at the UN Security Council, for a peaceful settlement of the [Middle East] crisis through dialogue and diplomacy.”
China has sought to expand its diplomatic footprint in the Middle East in recent years and notably brokered the Saudi Arabia–Iran rapprochement in 2023, which boosted its credibility as a regional peacemaker. It has also offered to help mediate the current crisis, though it plays a more behind-the-scenes role compared to the US or regional states like Qatar or Oman.
Pakistan has condemned Israel’s strikes against Iran and repeatedly called for de-escalation in the region.
Islamabad has also offered diplomatic support to Tehran at international forums and defended Iran’s right to respond to Israeli and US aggression under the UN Charter, carefully balancing this stance with its close security cooperation and economic partnership with the United States, a major backer of Israel.
The US and Israel say their goal is to cripple Tehran’s nuclear program.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Assembly on Tuesday formally welcomed a high-level delegation of Saudi Arabia’s Shoura Council as the two countries seek to deepen parliamentary cooperation.
The visit is one among many recent efforts to strengthen political, defense and economic links between the longtime allies, who already share robust trade and security partnerships and close cultural ties. Saudi Arabia hosts over two million Pakistani expatriates and has long been a key source of financial support for Islamabad, including during recent economic crises and through workers’ remittances.
“During the National Assembly Budget Session 2025, Honorable Speaker of the National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, along with Members of the National Assembly, extended a warm welcome to the high-level parliamentary delegation of the Pak-Saudi Parliamentary Friendship Committee of the Saudi Shoura Council present in the Speaker’s Gallery,” the National Assembly said in a statement posted on social media platform X.
The Saudi delegation, led by Major General (Retd.) Dr. Abdulrahman bin Sanhat Al-Harbi, chairman of the Saudi-Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Committee, includes Dr. Iman bint Abdulaziz Al-Jabreen and Engineer Salem bin Ali Al-Shahrani, both members of the Shoura Council.
The delegation held separate meetings with Speaker Sadiq and other Pakistani parliamentarians earlier, during which both sides agreed to promote parliamentary exchanges and share legislative experience.
“The Pak-Saudi Friendship Group established in the National Assembly is playing an important role in promoting harmony between the parliaments of the two countries,” Speaker Sadiq said in an earlier statement.
“Exchanges of parliamentary delegations will give the parliamentarians of both countries an opportunity to benefit from each other’s experiences.”
Dr. Al-Harbi said Saudi Arabia attached great importance to its relations with Pakistan and reiterated the Kingdom’s commitment to working together for peace and development in the region.
Frequent visits by parliamentary delegations complement high-level diplomatic and ministerial interactions between the two nations and are seen as a way to pave the ground for greater people-to-people contacts and new Saudi investments in Pakistan’s energy, mining and infrastructure sectors.
The visit also comes amid Islamabad’s efforts to attract foreign investment and strengthen partnerships with Gulf countries to stabilize its struggling economy.
KARACHI: Pakistan’s national carrier announced on Tuesday it has resumed its flight operations for Gulf countries, which it had suspended following Iran’s missile attack on a United States (US) air base in Qatar a day earlier, as a fragile ceasefire between Tehran and Tel Aviv takes hold.
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suspended its flights to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday night after Iran confirmed it had attacked American forces stationed at Qatar’s Al-Udeid air base.
PIA said it had limited its flight operations as a precautionary measure due to the ongoing situation in the Gulf region, where tensions have been high since June 13 after Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities and military leadership, triggering a military conflict between both sides.
“PIA Flight Operations for Gulf/KSA have resumed,” a PIA spokesperson said in a statement.
Sharing details of the flights, the spokesperson said PIA’s PK-245 flight departed from Islamabad for Dammam at 12:30 p.m. after a delay of 15 hours while the airline’s PK-743 Karachi to Madinah flight, which was diverted due to the closure of the airspace on Monday, departed at 1:30 p.m. after a delay of 14.5 hours.
The spokesperson shared that PK-713 flight from Lahore to Madinah also departed at 1:30 p.m. after a delay of seven hours while PK-209 Sialkot to Sharjah flight departed at 1:30 p.m. after a delay of 15 hours.
“In addition, flight PK-221 from Multan to Dubai, flight PK-251 from Sialkot to Doha, flight PK-761 from Karachi to Jeddah, and flight PK-261 from Islamabad to Abu Dhabi also departed at 1:30 pm,” the spokesperson said.
Due to the delayed departure of these flights, those returning home will also be delayed, he clarified.
“We apologize for the inconvenience caused to passengers, however, the decision to restrict operations last night was taken in accordance with air safety principles,” the spokesperson said.
Iran’s response came a day after the US launched a surprise attack Sunday morning on three of Iran’s nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
US President Donald Trump dismissed Iran’s missile attack as a “weak response,” calling for peace in the Middle East. Hours later on Tuesday, the US president announced both Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire.
The military conflict between Iran and Israel began on June 13 when the former attacked the latter’s nuclear facilities, alleging Tehran is close to building an atomic weapon. Iran has dismissed Israel’s allegations and says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
ISLAMABAD: Five persons were killed and five others were injured in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday after a passenger bus caught fire following its collision with a three-wheeled qingqi rickshaw, a senior official said.
The incident took place on the Western Bypass road in Balochistan’s provincial capital Quetta, the provincial government’s spokesperson Shahid Rind said. He said the passenger bus caught fire after colliding with the qingqi, which was reportedly carrying petrol.
“We express our heartfelt sympathy to the families of the passengers who died in the tragic accident,” Rind said in a statement. “The injured are being provided with immediate and best medical assistance.”
Three of the injured are being treated in the city’s Civil Hospital while two have been admitted to the Bolan Medical Complex, Rind said.
He said the provincial government has started probing the incident, adding that strict action will be taken against all those found responsible for the accident once the investigation is completed.
“All possible help and support will be provided to the affected families,” Rind said.
Road accidents are frequent in southwestern Pakistan, where drivers often lack proper training and often disregard traffic rules and regulations.
In April, 19 people were killed and over 40 injured in an oil tanker blast that took place in Balochistan’s Nushki district.
ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: Pakistan plans to hold final bidding to sell its loss-making national airline by October and complete the sale by the end of this year, the country’s privatization czar said in an interview this week, in what would be Islamabad’s most serious effort yet to sell off Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) after decades of repeated failures and costly government bailouts.
The latest attempt comes as the government seeks to cut losses from state-owned firms that have drained the public purse and undermined economic stability for years. PIA, once a respected carrier in Asia, has been propped up by taxpayers for decades due to political interference, corruption and inefficiencies. Its privatization has also repeatedly collapsed amid union resistance, legal hurdles and low investor appetite.
Selling off unprofitable state companies has been a key demand of international lenders such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose support is critical for Pakistan to avoid default and manage its ballooning debt.
Last week, five consortiums submitted expressions of interest for a 51–100 percent stake in PIA after the government restructured its balance sheet to make the deal more attractive. It has also scrapped the sales tax on leased aircraft and is providing limited protection from legal and tax claims. Around 80 percent of the airline’s debt has been transferred to the state.
Ground staff stand next to the Pakistan International Airline (PIA) aircraft ahead of its takeoff for Paris at the Islamabad International Airport on January 10, 2025, as EU authorities lift a four-year ban on the state airline. (AFP/ file)
“There are five expressions of interest from five different consortiums. Now we’ll be pre-qualifying them and all five may or may not qualify to go into the due diligence process,” Muhammad Ali, chairman of the Privatization Commission, told Arab News in an interview on Monday.
He said officials hoped to shortlist bidders by the end of June and open a data room in July.
“We are hoping that all the bidders will take roughly two months, 60 days time, for the due diligence and then we will enter into final discussions and negotiation of the terms and conditions of the transaction,” he said.
“So, we are hoping that sometime in September–October we should have the final bidding but in any case, before the end of the year we will wrap it up.”
WHY KEEP MINORITY SHAREHOLDING?
Pakistani state-owned enterprises post annual losses of more than Rs800 billion ($2.87 billion), and when subsidies, grants and other support are included, the burden swells beyond Rs1 trillion ($3.59 billion), Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb told parliament while presenting the budget for fiscal year 2025–26 earlier this month.
PIA has been one of the government’s most costly liabilities, which has accumulated over $2.5 billion in losses in roughly a decade and been surviving on repeated bailouts that have weighed heavily on Pakistan’s strained budget.
To attract buyers, Islamabad has moved PIA’s decades-old bank debt into a separate holding company, leaving a leaner core business with passenger, cargo and engineering operations, among others.
“So, PIA, the aviation, the core company which we are privatizing, that doesn’t have that debt anymore,” Ali said. “So, after taking care of all of that, it will be a positive balance sheet that we will be passing on to the investor.”
Last week’s bids were submitted ahead of a June 19 deadline to acquire up to 100 percent of PIA, which, following a major restructuring effort, posted its first operating profit in 21 years in the year through June 2024.
When asked why the government wanted to keep a minority shareholding rather than sell the whole company, the privatization chief said it was to benefit financially if the airline improved after the sale.
“Frankly, the government is not interested in controlling this entity anymore,” Ali said. “If the government is very actively involved in the decision-making, then that spirit is not met. So, from a control element, we want the private sector to be totally authorized to take all the decisions.”
But once PIA turned around, “the government would want to make some money off it.”
“So, the government would like to keep 20 to 25 percent, that’s our wish list. But again, that depends on our final negotiations with the investors.”
The privatization chief also dismissed concerns that the PIA sale could face the same pitfalls as the government’s partial privatization of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) in 2006, when a 26 percent stake and management control were sold to UAE’s Etisalat. To date, the Abu Dhabi-listed operator has withheld $800 million because the government did not transfer title of some properties to PTCL as per the deal terms.
“In case of PIA, there is no issue as far as land title or anything like that is concerned,” Ali said, adding that unlike PTCL, the government would ensure the majority stake was fully transferred and proceeds are received upfront, while any residual stake would be sold later “when the time is right.”
WHAT PRICE TO EXPECT
A previous attempt to sell PIA failed when a $36 million bid from real estate firm Blue World City fell far short of the $305 million floor price for a 60 percent stake, amid concerns over debt, staffing and limited control. The government rejected the bid.
Ali said this time the reference price could be higher given that the airline was showing modest signs of recovery, resuming profitable European routes and hoping for UK clearance soon, which officials expect will lift revenues and support a stronger valuation.
But he insisted Islamabad would walk away again if the new bids fell short, noting that even private sector attempts to sell large assets often required multiple rounds.
“What we would want is we get our reference price or higher. And if we have to wait a bit, we will wait it out a bit,” he added.
“It’s a great asset, frankly. It’s not losing money, it’s making money … PIA is doing well, the Paris route is doing well, they keep adding the flights, we are hoping that the UK route will start … So, with every new route which opens up, PIA’s performance will keep getting better. So I wouldn’t be worried about that [low bids].”
While all five bids in this round are from local consortiums, with only one group including a non-resident Pakistani group from the United States, the privatization chairman said he was not concerned about the lack of foreign interest for now.
“We have this infatuation with trying to get foreign investors in every industry. I think we have to give it a thought... If a local group takes it, I’m very happy,” Ali said, adding that Pakistani buyers could later bring in foreign airline partners once the turnaround took hold.
Pakistan has pledged to reduce the drag of loss-making state firms on the budget as part of reforms tied to its latest $7 billion IMF bailout and to secure fresh external financing.
The government expects to raise about Rs86 billion — basically its last floor price for PIA — in privatization proceeds in the coming fiscal year starting in July, mainly from the national carrier and a few other transactions such as partial sales of power distribution companies and the Roosevelt Hotel in New York.
But with annual losses from inefficient state-owned enterprises estimated at more than Rs850 billion ($3 billion), the modest target underscores how few assets Islamabad realistically expects to offload in the near term.
“In order to get rid of this Rs850 billion loss to the exchequer, we need to have a very, very aggressive privatization and deregulation agenda,” Ali said, “whereby the market forces in the private sector focus on business and the government comes out of this. So it’s a long journey.”
