KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has dismissed a petition filed against the privatisation of the national flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

A two-judge constitutional bench comprising Justice Adnan Iqbal Chaudhry and Justice Muhammad Jaffer Raza threw out the petition for being “misconceived”.

Citing the ministry of law, justice & parliamentary affairs, finance division, privatisation commission and PIA as respondents, a former law officer of the airline, Javed Iqbal, petitioned the SHC last week and contended that the process of privatisation could not be initiated without the approval of parliament.

He alleged that the assets of the PIA had been estimated at a very low value and asked the court to declare the entire process of impugned privatisation as null and void and without any lawful authority.

After a preliminary hearing, the bench in its order stated that the petitioner had claimed to be a retired employee of the PIA and challenged its privatisation.

“However, the petitioner is unable to cite any provision of law that is being violated in the privatisation process. No material has been annexed to the petition in support of the contentions. Accordingly, the petition is dismissed as misconceived,” the bench ruled.

Later, Mr Iqbal said that his petition was rejected without affording him an opportunity of hearing. He vowed to challenge the SHC order before the Supreme Court.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2025