Apex court withdraws order barring PIA privatisation without its approval

The Supreme Court has withdrawn its earlier order barring the government from privatising Pakistan International Airline (PIA) without its permission, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported. The six-member Constitutional Bench on Thursday overturned the six-year-old order by then chief justice Saqib Nisar in a suo motu notice over the privatisation of national entities. In a brief hearing on Thursday, the bench, headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan, directed the government not to proceed with PIA’s privatisation without SC’s prior permission. The top court’s decision came days after the European regulator allowed the national carrier to restart its flight operations to the continent after four years.