Pakistan’s ballooning economic crisis has pushed authorities to auction state-owned companies, crippled by mismanagement and interference, in a face-saving scramble. Express Tribune exposes how these entities, starved of proper leadership, sell goods and services at giveaway prices. Instead of reforms, regimes keep them afloat until debts overwhelm, triggering hasty privatizations.
Across the board, politics trumps professionalism. Appointees prioritize loyalty over profits, eroding standards until collapse looms. Public money sustains the charade, but sales privatize profits while socializing losses—a raw deal for the nation.
PIA’s downfall is textbook. From aviation elite to basket case, it succumbed to overstaffing, ministerial whims, and commercial blindness. Trillions wasted on lifelines as standards fell and competition won. Privatization? Mere acknowledgment of long-term failure.
PTCL’s turnaround tempts optimism—tech upgrades and expansion followed the sale. Dig deeper: unresolved employee claims on pensions and status underscore a process blind to people, fixated on transactions.
K-Electric lays waste to price-drop illusions; privatized yet tariffs soar to unprecedented levels. Pakistan’s saga proves privatization thrives on crisis, not calculation. Lasting fixes require purging political toxins from SOEs—otherwise, sales are just desperate patches on a hemorrhaging economy.