The government suffered the setback in the upper house of the parliament today when the house rejected the bill moved by federal minister for climate change Zahid Hamid to convert the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Corporation into a public limited company.
The opposition benches vehemently opposed the bill when it was being introduced in the house.
Senate Deputy Chairman Abdul Ghafoor Haideri sought verbal vote to take the bill into consideration twice, which was rejected by majority voice both times.
Earlier, the senate standing committee had also rejected the bill in its report.
The National Assembly had passed the PIAC bill amid the opposition protests on January 21st.
A joint session of the Parliament will now decide the fate of the controversial piece of legislation. The bill is expected to pass in the joint session as the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz enjoys a simple majority in a joint session.
