PIA privatisation: Asif blames bureaucracy for public sector's decline, seeks accountability

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, who also heads the country's aviation sector, has held bureaucracy responsible for the decline of the public sector while lamenting that politicians are often blamed for it. "Those responsible for the ruin of institutions will be held accountable," Asif said on Wednesday. Speaking about the national airline's privatisation, Defence Minister Asif blamed former aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan's statement claiming fake credentials of pilots which had resulted in wide-ranging restrictions and adverse repercussions for the national airline during the PTI-led government in 2020.