The comments came hours after hundreds of employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) clashed with the law enforcement agencies in the port city of Karachi on Tuesday.
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However, Danish Gillani, spokesman of the PIA said that there were some disruptions in flights schedule but otherwise back up arrangements had been made for undisrupted operation of the flights.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced that the Pakistan International Airlines employees working during the strike will be given special rewards for their service, however, the employees who refused to work will be punished and can be sent to jail for one year.
PIA employees blame the new chief for Friday’s baton charge against protesting workers at the Karachi airport.
Police and paramilitary rangers deployed tear gas and water cannon against the protesters from Pakistan International Airlines after they blocked the main entrance to Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport around midday.
Yesterday, the government also enforced PIA Essential Services Act that bars employees from protest.
Pakistani Privatization Minister Mohammad Zubair had said the plan to privatize the PIA would get underway as of July 2016.
The PIA employees accused Rangers of opening fire that killed two workers. “We are investigating and will find out the truth after examining the two submachine gun shells that were found from the site”, he said.
Meanwhile, the opposition leader in the National Assembly and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) senior leader Syed Khursheed Shah strongly condemned the use of shelling by the police on protesters.
“The PIA employee was brought dead to our emergency department and our team attempted to revive him for 20 minutes”, a spokesman of the hospital told AFP, identifying the deceased as Inayat Raza.
“The bullets that killed and injured the protesters are not [the kind] used by the police”, he said.
“PIA is already suffering from huge losses”. He said that most company employees want government officials to call off the sale.
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A PIA official said that all domestic and global flights were cancelled as pilots and airport staff were not available to handle the cargo and the passengers.
