ISLAMABAD: Senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former federal minister Khawaja Saad Rafique has voiced his opposition to the merger of the Civil Aviation Ministry with the Defense Ministry.
Known for candidly criticizing decisions within his own government, Rafique has recently expressed his disapproval of the incumbent government’s right-sizing policy.
In a social media post, Saad Rafique described the merger as an inappropriate move that could negatively impact the aviation sector. He pointed out that PML-N’s election manifesto had pledged to create a Ministry of Transport by combining Railways and Aviation, not by dissolving the Aviation Ministry entirely.
The former minister further suggested that if the goal was right-sizing, a more logical approach would have been merging Railways, Aviation, and Ports & Shipping into a single Ministry of Transport. Rafique emphasized that placing the aviation sector under the Ministry of Defense could hinder the industry’s growth and efficiency.
His statement came after the federal government merged the Ministry of Aviation with the Ministry of Defense as part of its effort to reduce state expenditures. The Ministry of Defense issued a letter notifying all ministries and divisions about the merger following the implementation of statutory regulatory orders (SROs) on February 4.
