The Pakistan International Airline (PIA) flight bound to take 400 Umrah passengers to Jeddah on Friday midnight is still grounded at Islamabad International Airport on Saturday. The departure of PIA flight 731 from Islamabad International Airport, initially scheduled for midnight on Friday, experienced a 10-hour delay, leaving all 400 passengers in anticipation of the flight’s departure. The passengers of flight 731 – Umrah pilgrims – at Islamabad airport claimed that PIA authorities are not giving any information regarding flight departure. Earlier this month, the privatization of PIA was challenged in the Sindh High Court (SHC) after which the court issued notices to the parties.

Details reveal that the privatization of PIA has been contested in court, with the Ministry of Law, Aviation, Finance, and Executive Director Ernst Wing included as parties in the plea. In the plea, the complainant Sameera Mohammadi stated that the caretaker government does not have the authority to make ‘important decisions’ or start a new project but can supervise the ongoing projects started by the elected government. The applicant stated that the caretaker government has violated Article 18-C of the constitution by privatizing a public-private company as the interim government has no authority to make such decisions.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)