Opposition in Upper House on Friday slammed the federal government for sacking Pakistan Steel Mills employees and going back on its promise to not privatise the entity.
A session of Senate was held during which PML-N’s Senator Mushahidullah said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had said in the past that he would demonstrate to everyone how the steel mills can be properly run. He said that planning minister Asad Umar had also gone back on his word to the employees of the steel mills. “The government cannot rid itself of responsibilities by blaming its predecessors,” he said.
Jamaat-e-Islami chief Senator Siraj ul Haq criticised the government and questioned how it can sack employees of the steel mills when it had promised to provide one million jobs to the people.
PML-N Senator and former PSM chairperson Lieutenant General (r) Abdul Qayyum insisted that a separate debate be held in the House regarding the matter. Federal Minister of Industries and Production Hammad Azhar said that the Pakistan Steel Mills couldn’t be revived or privatized during the PPP and the PML-N’s tenures. He said that Rs 35 billion had been paid during the past five years from the taxpayers’ pockets to the steel mills employees. He said that it is not possible to keep hiring personnel in government departments. “The institution will be revived through private partnerships,” he said. Hammad Azhar maintained that the PSM had a debt of Rs211 billion and losses worth Rs176b. He said that the mills had gone into deficit between 2008-09, and were shut down in 2015. “We will move towards privatisation after debt structuring and PSM employees will be given an estimated Rs2.3 million,” he said, adding that some would receive Rs7m. Following the demands of the members of parliament, Senator Sanjrani referred the matter of the dismissal of PSM employees to the relevant standing committee of the Senate. The House also passed a resolution against Indian atrocities in occupied valley of Kashmir, calling upon the United Nations and other international organisations to restrain India. The resolution was presented by PML-N Senator Raja Zafarul Haq and it condemned the hostilities of the Indian state in the disputed region and called for the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people, in accordance with UN resolutions.
