Episode 05 - Please Inform Allah (PIA)

How to Pakistan

In this episode, Mosharraf and Fasi discuss the ongoing PIA crisis, which began when the government doubled down on wanting to sell 26% of the airline to someone who would take on the honour of running the glorious national flag carrier. The crisis deepened when protesting labour unions were fired upon by unknown assailants, causing the deaths of at least two protestors. As always, the PML-N government has created a crisis out of a national opportunity. The manner in which the government continues to deal with the issue indicates little appetite for crisis resolution. To try to understand the issues better, we also speak to Dr. Nadeem ul Haque, who served as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission during the previous government, and spent many years as an IMF economist. Dr. Haque has written an illuminating blog entry on the PIA crisis at his blog, which you should all read: http://development20.blogspot.com/2016/02/on-privatization-of-pia.html?m=1 The original score that opens and closes the episode is courtesy of our guest sound engineer and producer, the great Shehryar Mufti, who is the founder of all-star musical ensemble, Bumbu Sauce.