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Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing offered his country advice on civic participation as he voted in a general election on Sunday after five years of military rule and civil war.The diminutive general was top of the voter list at the Zeyathiri polling station, set up at his official compound in the sprawling but sparsely populated capital Naypyidaw.A steady stream of generals, officers and government officials arrived at the gold-draped hall to cast their ballots.Most wore civilian clothes, including Min Aung Hlaing, whose military rank is Senior General, while their wives were in formal dress. “People should vote,” the 69-year-old told assembled reporters. “If they don’t vote, I will have to say they don’t completely understand what democracy really is.”Analysts say he could transition to president after the poll, or remain as armed forces chief and be the power behind an ostensibly civilian throne. Either way would effectively prolong military rule.He declined to be drawn on Sunday, describing himself as a “public servant and head of the military”, not the leader of a political party.”I can’t just go and ask to be the president,” he said.The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is universally expected to emerge from the election as the largest parliamentary grouping.Jailed Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which thrashed the USDP at the last poll in 2020, has been dissolved and is not taking part.- ‘Free and fair’ -Min Aung Hlaing’s 2021 coup ended a decade-long democratic thaw and plunged the country into civil war.Rights monitors have accused the military of crushing dissent and waging war against rebels challenging their authority with no regard for civilian casualties.Min Aung Hlaing reiterated his allegations, which have been denied by international monitors, that Aung San Suu Kyi’s victory last time was due to widespread voter fraud.”It was not something we could let off,” he said. “That is why it got us all here. I want you all to wait and see today.”And he insisted Sunday’s polls were “free and fair”, adding that people “can vote for whoever they like”.The Asian Network for Free Elections has said that 90 percent of the seats in 2020 went to organisations that do not appear on Sunday’s ballots.However, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said at the same polling station as Min Aung Hlaing: “This election is being held for the people of Myanmar.””It is about rebuilding the democratic system that the people of Myanmar want.”

Myanmar’s military portrays its general election as a path to democracy and peace, but the vote offers neither to a million Rohingya exiles, robbed of citizenship rights and evicted from their homeland by force.”How can you call this an election when the inhabitants are gone and a war is raging?” said 51-year-old Kabir Ahmed in Bangladesh’s Kutupalong, the world’s largest refugee camp complex.Heavily restricted polls are due to start Sunday in areas of Myanmar governed by the military, which snatched power in a 2021 coup that triggered civil war.But for the Rohingya minority, violence began well before that, with a military crackdown in 2017 sending legions of the mostly Muslim group fleeing Myanmar’s Rakhine state to neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh.The month-long election will be the third national poll since they were stripped of their voting rights a decade ago, but comes amid a fresh exodus fuelled by the all-out war.Ahmed once served as chairman of a villageof more than 8,000 Rohingya in Myanmar’s Maungdaw township, just over the border from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.After their eviction, the area is now a “wasteland”, he told AFP.”Who will appear on the ballot?” he asked.”Who is going to vote?”- ‘Send us back’ -Today 1.17 million Rohingya live crammed in dilapidated camps spread over 8,000 acres in Cox’s Bazar.The majority came in the 2017 crackdown, which is now the subject of a UN genocide court case, with allegations of rampant rape, executions and arson.Civil war has brought fresh violence, with the Rohingya caught between the warring military and separatist group the Arakan Army, one of the many factions challenging the junta’s rule.Both forces have committed atrocities against the Rohingya, monitors say.Some 150,000 people fled the persecution to Bangladesh in the 18 months to July, according to UN analysis.The UN refugee agency said it was the largest surge in arrivals since 2017.Aged 18, Mohammad Rahim would have been eligible to vote this year — if he was back home, if his country acknowledged his citizenship, and if polling went ahead despite the war.”I just want the war to end and for steps to be taken to send us back to Myanmar,” said Rahim, the eldest of four siblings who have all grown up in the squalid camps.The Arakan Army controls all but three of Rakhine’s 17 townships, according to conflict monitors, meaning the military’s long-promised polls are likely to be extremely limited there.The military has blockaded the coastal western state, driving a stark hunger and humanitarian crisis.Rahim still craves a homecoming.”If I were a citizen, I would negotiate for my rights. I could vote,” he said.”I would have the right to education, vote for whoever I wanted, and work towards a better future.”- Fate ‘unchanged’ -Successive military and civilian governments in Myanmar have eroded the citizenship of the Rohingya, dubbing them “Bengali” as descendants of immigrants who arrived during British colonial rule.A 1982 law excluded them from full citizenship — unlike the other 135 ethnic groups recognised in Myanmar — and they were issued separate ID cards.They were then deprived of the right to vote in 2015, just as most other people in Myanmar won more freedoms and military rule was relaxed.”Will anyone who wins recognise us as citizens?” asked 52-year-old refugee Rehana Bibi.”We are not a concern for anyone in Myanmar,” the mother of six lamented in her tarpaulin-covered hut.”Whether military-backed candidates or others win, the fate of the Rohingyas will remain unchanged.”In July, for the first time since their influx began eight years ago, Rohingyas held an election for their representatives inside 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar.”We printed ballot papers and ran awareness programmes on democracy with the hope that someday we would return home and practise it there,” said 33-year-old community leader Sayed Ullah.Ahmed, the exiled village chairman, still dreams of an election back home.”I was a teacher, but my people wanted me to lead them,” he said. “I won three times straight.””I am sure I would win again if only I got the chance,” he said, his face lighting up.

After passing multiple checkpoints under the watchful eyes of snipers stationed overhead, hundreds of Christians gathered for a Christmas mass in northwest Pakistan 12 years after suicide bombers killed dozens of worshippers.The impact of metal shards remain etched on a wall next to a memorial bearing the names of those killed at All Saints Church in Peshawar, in the violence-wracked province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.”Even today, when I recall that day 12 years ago, my soul trembles,” Natasha Zulfiqar, a 30-year-old housewife who was wounded in the attack along with her parents, told AFP on Thursday.Her right wrist still bears the scar.An Islamist militant group claimed responsibility for the attack on September 22, 2013, when 113 people were killed, according to a church toll.”There was blood everywhere. The church lawn was covered with bodies,” Zulfiqar said.Christians make up less than two percent of Pakistan’s 240 million people and have long faced discrimination in the conservative Muslim country, often sidelined into low-paying jobs and sometimes the target of blasphemy charges.Along with other religious minorities, the community has often been targeted by Islamist militants over the years. Today, a wall clock inside All Saints giving the time of the blast as 11:43 am is preserved in its damaged state, its glass shattered.”The blast was so powerful that its marks are still visible on this wall — and those marks are not only on the wall, but they are also etched into our hearts as well,” said Emmanuel Ghori, a caretaker at the church. Addressing a Christmas ceremony in the capital Islamabad, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to protect religious minorities.”I want to make it clear that if any injustice is done to any member of a minority, the law will respond with full force,” he said.For Azzeka Victor Sadiq, whose father was killed and mother wounded in the blasts, “The intensity of the grief can never truly fade.””Whenever I come to the church, the entire incident replays itself before my eyes,” the 38-year-old teacher told AFP.

Aspiring prime minister and political heavyweight Tarique Rahman returned to Bangladesh on Thursday, ending 17 years in self-imposed exile with a promise to deliver safety and justice if his party wins next year’s elections.Huge crowds of joyous supporters waving flags, banners and posters welcomed Rahman, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and acting chairman of her popular Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).”Today, I want to say that I have a plan for my country… a safe state that people have long hoped for,” Rahman, 60, said in a first speech after his homecoming.”It is time we build a country together. This country belongs to the people in the hills and the plains, to Muslims, Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.”A visibly emotional Rahman earlier took off his shoes, stood on the grass outside the airport and scooped up soil as a mark of reverence to his motherland.He waved to supporters before ducking into a convoy under tight security, according to video footage shared by his party.BNP backers gathered in the capital Dhaka since the early morning, plastering the streets with banners and festoons bearing images of Rahman, who is expected to take the reins from his ailing mother.Patriotic songs blared from loudspeakers while cut-outs depicted the seasoned politician riding a stallion.Party supporter Alamgir Hossain said Bangladesh was in a “dire situation” and that only Rahman “can fix it”.Rahman, known in Bangladesh as Tarique Zia, left Bangladesh for London in 2008, following an arrest on corruption charges and after what he described as political persecution.As acting party chairman, Rahman will lead the BNP through the February 12 general elections — the first polls since a student-led uprising last year toppled the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina.- ‘Repay the debt’ -The BNP is widely seen as an election frontrunner, with Rahman expected to be put forward as prime minister if his party wins a majority.Rahman’s 80-year-old mother Zia is undergoing treatment in intensive care at a hospital in Dhaka after years of ill health and imprisonment.Rahman said his mother had “sacrificed everything” for the country and that he had come to meet her and express “my gratitude”.Rahman’s return comes amid unrest over the killing of popular student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, a staunch India-critic who took part in last year’s mass uprising.Hadi, 32, was shot by masked assailants earlier this month in Dhaka, and later died of his wounds at a Singapore hospital.His death set off violent protests with mobs torching several buildings, including two major newspapers deemed to favour India and a prominent cultural institution.Mobs also threw stones at the Indian High Commission in the port city of Chattogram, where visa services have since been suspended.Rahman urged his supporters to remain vigilant “in the face of conspiracies”.”If the nation is to repay the… debt owed to its martyrs, it must build the country the people have long yearned for,” he said.- ‘Symbol of hope’ -Dhaka’s diplomatic ties with its historical ally New Delhi have worsened since the uprising, with ousted prime minister Hasina seeking refuge in India.India has said it was considering Bangladesh’s request to extradite Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia for orchestrating a deadly crackdown on the uprising.With anti-India sentiments rising in the majority Muslim nation, a Hindu garment worker was accused of blasphemy and lynched by a mob on December 18.Jahan Panna, a former BNP lawmaker, said she hoped Rahman’s return would end the “cycle of anarchy”.”Rahman is the symbol of hope for this country,” Panna, 55, told AFP.Rahman faced a slew of criminal cases, but since Hasina’s fall his most severe punishment has been overturned: a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a political rally. He denied the charges.In Britain, he kept a low profile but remained an outspoken figure on social media.In June, he met in London with Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner leading the interim government until the February vote.Hasina’s Awami League party, a bitter rival of BNP, has been barred from contesting in the polls.

Aspiring prime minister and political heavyweight Tarique Rahman was welcomed back to Bangladesh on Thursday by huge crowds of joyous supporters after 17 years in self-imposed exile.Rahman, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and heir apparent of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), shook hands with party leaders after touching down at the Dhaka airport.Accompanied by his wife and daughter, a visibly emotional Rahman took off his shoes, stood on the grass outside the airport and scooped up the soil as a mark of reverence.He waved to supporters before ducking into a convoy under tight security, video posted by his party showed. Since early Thursday, BNP backers started gathering in the capital, plastering the streets with banners and festoons bearing images of Rahman. Patriotic songs blared from loudspeakers while cut-outs depicted the 60-year-old politician riding a stallion.Alamgir Hossain, a BNP supporter, said the country was in a “dire situation” and that only Rahman “can fix it”.Rahman left Bangladesh for London in 2008 after what he has described as political persecution.As acting chairman of the BNP, Rahman will lead the party through the February 12 general election, the first polls since ex-premier Sheikh Hasina’s exit following a student-led uprising last year.The BNP is widely seen as an election frontrunner, with Rahman expected to be put forward as prime minister if his party wins a majority.Rahman’s ailing mother, 80-year-old former leader Zia, is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dhaka.Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia vowed in November to campaign in the upcoming elections.- ‘Symbol of hope’ -But she was hospitalised soon after making that pledge, and has been in intensive care ever since.Rahman’s return comes after recent unrest over the killing of popular student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, a staunch India-critic who took part in last year’s mass uprising.Hadi, 32, was shot by masked assailants this month in Dhaka, and later died of his wounds at a Singapore hospital. His death set off violent protests with mobs torching several buildings, including two major newspapers deemed to favour India, as well as a prominent cultural institution.Mobs also pelted stones at the Indian High Commission in the port city of Chattogram, where India has since suspended visa services.Dhaka’s diplomatic ties have worsened with its historical ally India, where Hasina has sought refuge since the uprising that ended her 15-year autocratic rule.India says it is still considering Dhaka’s requests to extradite Hasina, who was sentenced to death in absentia for orchestrating a deadly crackdown on the uprising.Anti-India sentiments were stirred afresh in the majority Muslim nation after a Hindu garment worker was accused of blasphemy and lynched by a mob on December 18.Jahan Panna, a former BNP lawmaker, said she hoped Rahman’s return would end the “cycle of anarchy” prevailing in the country.”Tarique Rahman is the symbol of hope for this country,” Panna, 55, told AFP. Rahman faced a slew of criminal cases but since Hasina’s fall from power, he has been acquitted of the most serious charge against him: a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a political rally. He denied the charges.In Britain, he kept a low profile but remained an outspoken figure on social media.In June, he met in London with Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner leading the interim government until the February elections.Hasina’s Awami League party, a bitter rival of BNP, has been barred from contesting in the polls.

Aspiring prime minister and political heavyweight Tarique Rahman was welcomed back to Bangladesh on Thursday by huge crowds of supporters after his 17 years in self-imposed exile.Rahman, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and heir apparent of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), shook hands with party leaders after touching down at the Dhaka airport.Accompanied by his wife and daughter, he waved to supporters before ducking into a convoy under tight security, video posted by his party showed.Since early Thursday, BNP-backers have been gathering in the capital, plastering the streets with banners and festoons bearing images of Rahman. Patriotic songs blared from loudspeakers while cut-outs depicted Rahman riding a stallion.Rahman left Bangladesh for London in 2008 after what he has described as political persecution.As acting chairman of the BNP, Rahman will lead the party through the February 12 general election, the first polls since ex-premier Sheikh Hasina’s exit following a student-led uprising last year.The BNP is widely seen as an election frontrunner, with Rahman expected to be put forward as prime minister if his party wins a majority.Rahman’s ailing mother, 80-year-old former leader Zia, is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Dhaka.Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia vowed in November to campaign in the upcoming elections.But she was hospitalised soon after making that pledge, and has been in intensive care ever since.Rahman’s return comes after recent unrest over the killing of popular student leader Sharif Osman Hadi, a staunch India-critic who took part in last year’s mass uprising.Hadi, 32, was shot by masked assailants this month in Dhaka, and later died of his wounds at a Singapore hospital. His death set off violent protests with mobs torching several buildings, including two major newspapers deemed to favour India, as well as a prominent cultural institution.

India’s space agency launched its heaviest ever payload on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling the deployment “a significant stride” for the space sector.The LVM3-M6 rocket launched the US-built AST SpaceMobile communications satellite into low-Earth orbit.The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said it was the “heaviest payload to be launched from Indian soil”. The launch is a boost for India’s ambitious low-cost space programme, with plans for an uncrewed orbital mission and human spaceflight in the coming years.The satellite, weighing 6,100 kilograms (13,448 pounds), was launched on a modified version of a rocket that India plans to use for its future space missions. India is vying for a larger slice of the booming commercial satellite business as phone, internet and other companies seek expanded and more high-end communications.Modi said the launch marked “a proud milestone in India’s space journey”. “It strengthens India’s heavy-lift launch capability and reinforces our growing role in the global commercial launch market,” he said in a statement.Earlier this year, ISRO launched the CMS-03 communication satellite, which weighs about 4,410 kilograms.For these heavy launches, India has deployed an upgraded version of the rocket it used to send an unmanned craft to the Moon in August 2023.The world’s most populous nation has flexed its spacefaring ambitions in the last decade with its space programme growing considerably, and rivalling the achievements of established powers at a much cheaper price tag.It has said it plans to launch an uncrewed orbital mission before its first human spaceflight in 2027.Modi has also announced plans to send an astronaut to the Moon by 2040.

The heir to Bangladesh’s longtime ruling family and a leader of its most powerful political party, Tarique Rahman is set to return home after 17 years in exile and ahead of key elections.Rahman, 60, an aspiring prime minister who has lived in London since he fled Bangladesh in 2008 over what he called a politically motivated persecution, is due to arrive in Dhaka on Thursday.Acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), he is expected to take the reins from his ailing mother, 80-year-old former prime minister Khaleda Zia.Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia vowed in November to campaign in the February 12, 2026 elections.But she was hospitalised soon after that pledge, and she has been in intensive care ever since.The elections will be the first since a mass uprising last year ended the 15-year hardline rule of Sheikh Hasina, who was at odds with the BNP.Since Hasina’s fall from power, Rahman has been acquitted of the most serious charge against him: a life sentence handed down in absentia for a 2004 grenade attack on a Hasina rally. He had denied the charges.BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has promised Rahman will “arrive among us on the soil of Dhaka” on December 25, which he said will be a “fantastic day.”Rahman, often pictured beside his mother on BNP banners, has long been groomed for leadership.In June, he met in London with Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner leading the interim government until the February elections.- Violent politics -Rahman, known in Bangladesh as Tarique Zia, carries a political name that has defined his life.Born in 1967 when the country was still East Pakistan, he was briefly detained as a child during the 1971 independence war. The BNP hails him as “one of the youngest prisoners of war”.His father, Ziaur Rahman, was an army commander.Ziaur Rahman gained influence months after a 1975 coup in which Sheikh Hasina’s father — founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was murdered.That fuelled lifelong tensions between the Zia and Hasina families, dubbed the “Battle of the Begums”– “begum” meaning a powerful woman.Ziaur Rahman was assassinated when his son was 15.The younger Rahman grew up in his mother’s political orbit, as Zia went on to become the country’s first female prime minister, alternating her terms in power with Hasina.Rahman briefly studied international relations at Dhaka University before entering politics at 23, joining the BNP in its fight against military ruler Hussain Muhammad Ershad, according to his party.- ‘Unnerves many’ -Still, Rahman’s career has been dogged by allegations of nepotism and mismanagement.A 2006 US embassy cable described him as the BNP’s “heir apparent” who “inspires few but unnerves many”.Other cables labelled him a “symbol of kleptocratic government and violent politics” and accused him of being “phenomenally corrupt” — claims he rejected as politically motivated.Rahman was arrested on corruption charges in 2007 and claimed he was tortured in custody.Reports suggested his release was conditional on leaving politics. Freed later that year, he flew to London in 2008 for medical treatment and never returned.After Hasina swept to power in 2008, her government jailed tens of thousands of BNP members.In 2018, Rahman was again sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for allegedly orchestrating the 2004 attack on Hasina’s rally — a case the BNP called a bid to eliminate the Zia dynasty from politics.In Britain, he kept a low profile alongside his wife, a cardiologist, and their daughter.Since Hasina’s ouster, Rahman emerged as an outspoken figure on social media and a rallying point for BNP supporters.

A heady aroma of malt and brewing yeast drifts through Pakistan’s oldest and by far largest brewery, which is gearing up for expansion after getting approval to sell abroad after a nearly 50-year ban.Bottles and cans clatter along the production lines at Murree Brewery, a singular scene in the Muslim-majority country where alcohol is largely banned. But Murree, founded in 1860 to quench the thirst of British soldiers and the colonial community during the Raj, has survived Islamist opposition and strict regulations to become one of Pakistan’s most well-known companies.”It’s a journey of a roller-coaster and resilience,” Isphanyar Bhandara, the third generation of his family to run the business, told AFP in an interview.”Getting permission to export is another happy milestone,” he added. “My grandfather, and late father, tried to get the export licence, but couldn’t get it. Just because, you know, we are an Islamic country.” However, Bhandara said he got “a rude surprise” in 2017 when the Chinese-run Hui Coastal Brewery and Distillery got permission to brew beer in Pakistan, mainly for the thousands of Chinese working on major infrastructure projects in the country.”What happened to all the Islamic lectures?” said Bhandara, who hails from Pakistan’s small but influential Parsi (Zoroastrian) community and is also a lawmaker in the National Assembly.Soon he embarked on the years-long lobbying effort to lift the export ban.- Peculiar profits -Originally housed in the mountains outside Islamabad, Murree’s red-brick facility now sits opposite the army chief’s residence in the capital’s twin city Rawalpindi, one of the most heavily guarded places in the country.Revenue surpassed $100 million in the fiscal year to June, with alcohol sales generating just over half of the total, and non-alcoholic drinks and bottle making accounting for the rest.The performance is all the more remarkable given that alcohol sales to Muslims are forbidden, meaning only religious minorities — numbering around nine million — and foreigners can buy beer or liquor in a few authorised shops or upscale hotels.But that has not stopped millions of Pakistanis from getting their occasional tipple, in a country with a long history of appreciating a fine drink. Its revered founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah was known to enjoy spirits, and the military dictator Pervez Musharraf made no secret of his love of whisky.Even prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who announced the alcohol ban in 1977 in a bid to garner support from right-wing Islamist parties, once told a rally: “Yes, I drink alcohol, but at least I don’t drink the blood of the poor.”These days it’s common for bottles to appear at dinners or parties — there is usually a Christian or Hindu to be found who will buy them for you.”Pakistan’s affair with alcohol is like that of a secret paramour — acknowledged but not talked about extensively,” said Fasi Zaka, a prominent columnist and political commentator. “It’s the tolerable vice — condemned but familiar.”However, many Muslim drinkers obtain alcohol from bootleggers or locally produced moonshine, and every year several people die after consuming methanol-contaminated liquor.”I have to bribe the police and take extra risks, so the price is doubled”, a Christian bootlegger in Islamabad told AFP on condition of anonymity.”The extra charge is to keep everyone happy, whether it’s a Muslim customer or a police officer keeping an eye on me,” he said with a laugh.- Expanding horizons -Before the export ban, Murree had sold its products in neighbouring India and Afghanistan, but also in Gulf countries and as far as the United States.”It sounds very strange or very bizarre today, but we were exporting to Kabul,” where the Taliban now govern with their strict interpretation of Islam, Bhandara said.Murree has already made limited shipments to Japan, Britain and Portugal as it explores distribution channels and strategies. “Right now, the target is not revenue or to make money… the target is to explore new markets”, Bhandara said.The company, which has around 2,200 employees, is looking in particular at Europe, but is also weighing a move into Asian and African markets.Selling abroad could also give Murree a chance to promote its history and brand in ways unimaginable at home.”We are not allowed to advertise, so we keep our heads down — we try to make a good beer with our heads down,” Bhandara said.

A Pakistani firm won an auction Tuesday with a $482 million bid for a majority stake in the embattled national carrier PIA, a deal seen as a litmus test of the government’s pledge to sell off loss-making state companies.Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), long accused by critics of being bloated and poorly run, has been burning through cash as the government struggles with a balance of payments crisis.Three Pakistani firms competed in the auction carried live by state broadcasters, with representatives placing their offers in a clear box during several rounds of bidding.The Arif Habib investment group emerged on top with a bid of 135 billion rupees for the 75 percent stake on offer. It has an option to buy the remaining 25 percent in the coming months.”It was essential to make this process transparent because the biggest transaction of Pakistan’s history is about to take place,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told his cabinet in a televised statement as the bidding began.The rival bidders were a consortium led by Lucky Cement, which bid 134 billion rupees, and the private Pakistani carrier Air Blue, with 26.5 billion. The sale offer comes after last year’s failure to privatise PIA, with just one bid for $36 million — far below the $300 million to $305 million wanted by the government.Before being delisted from the Pakistan stock exchange, the airline reported a net loss of $437 million for the 2022 full year on revenue of $854 million.- More sales on deck? -Islamabad has promised to divest dozens of its cash-burning enterprises in the finance, energy, industrial and retailing sectors by 2029 under a $7 billion loan programme agreed with the International Monetary Fund last year.Many of the companies have incurred billions of dollars in losses because of mismanagement and corruption, forcing the government to inject funds to keep them afloat.Founded in 1955, PIA was a symbol of national pride and rapid growth for years, with a pathbreaking international network and even flight attendant uniforms created by French designer Pierre Cardin in the 1960s.But its reputation suffered after racking up heavy losses as well as serious safety lapses.It was banned from flying to the European Union, Britain and the United States in June 2020, a month after one of its Airbus A-320 jets crashed onto a Karachi street, killing nearly 100 people.Europe and Britain allowed PIA flights to resume this year, but operations have not yet resumed for the United States.Just 18 of its fleet of around 34 planes are in active service, according to officials.