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Pakistani PM warns protesting airlines employees

Xinhua, February 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has warned that action will be taken against those workers of national airlines on a countrywide protest against the government's privatization plan.

The comments came hours after hundreds of employees of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) clashed with the law enforcement agencies in the port city of Karachi on Tuesday.

Hospital sources in Karachi confirmed that at least two employees died of bullet wounds and five others were injured in the clash.

Riot police fired tear gas shells, used batons and water cannons to disperse the protesters outside the Karachi airport.

Prime Minister Sharif warned to take action against the PIA employees who are not attending their duties, saying, "The PIA is facing damages of 100 million rupees per day."

He said passengers are facing problems due to the strike and some political parties are politicizing the PIA.

The PIA employees had announced strike across the country; however, the strike did not affect flight operation, PIA spokesman Daniyal Gilani said.

The protest turned into violence in Karachi when bullets were fired during the protest.

A police officer, Kamran Fazal, denied the alleged police firing bullets, saying investigation is underway to find who had fired the bullets.

He told reporters that the law enforcement agencies had only fired tear gas shells and water cannons to disperse the protesters.

The PIA employees were protesting against a government's plan to privatize the state-owned airlines in view of huge losses.

The PIA spokesman said the protest did not disrupted flight operations and all scheduled international and domestic flights were on time.

"All airports are clear and flights are operating as normal," Gilani told local media.

Police confirmed the arrest of few protesters.

Peaceful protests were also reported from other parts of the country.

The government on Monday announced a ban on the strikes in the PIA under a law that was also approved by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Enditem