Is Maryam Nawaz going to buy PIA?

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has been in the news these days due to its ongoing privatisation process.

After five of the six groups exited from the bidding process even without offering their bid, Pakistan's national flag carrier has been in trouble. Only one group offered its bid of Rs10 billion to buy stakes in the airline, but this bid was Rs75 billion less than the minimum bidding amount set by the government of Pakistan. This group is Blue World Consortium, but the government rejected its bid and annulled the entire bidding process for the timebeing. 

Later, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government wrote to the privatisation minister of Pakistan, Abdul Aleem Khan, and told him that they wanted to become part of the bidding process. 

However, another news about the PIA sale process broke out on Saturday when former prime minister Nawaz Sharif reportedly said that his daughter, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, discussed with him her idea of buying stakes in the PIA. 

Talking to media persons in the United States on Saturday, Nawaz said he told Maryam that she could buy the PIA and change its name. Or she could set up an altogether new airline. He however said that he told Maryam to hold more deliberations on this topic. He proposed that Punjab Airline could be the new name of the airline. He said the new airline should operate direct flights from Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta to New York, London, Hong Kong and other international destinations.

He said some people fron within were destroing the PIA.