Petition against PIA sell-off dismissed

The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench on Thursday dismissed a petition challenging the privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), removing a key legal roadblock in the government’s ongoing efforts to divest its majority stake in the loss-making national flag carrier. Justice Jawad Hassan issued a short order rejecting the petition, stating that detailed reasons would be shared later. The petition had contested the legality of the privatisation, arguing that the federal government issued an advertisement for the sale of PIA without fulfilling the requirements laid out in Section 23 of the Privatisation Commission Ordinance, 2000. The petitioner’s counsel claimed that the government had failed to properly assess PIA’s local and international assets and ignored principles previously settled by the Supreme Court regarding such transactions.