Sir: In the name of progress and the preservation of economic solidarity, there are spells cast by our leading spell-casters who are abolishing the very basis of this country’s economic base. The notorious decline of the flagship airline of Pakistan falls into this cluster of evils. If we take the example of Pakistan International Airline (PIA), it was initially known as Orient Airways and in 1954 its name was changed to PIA. It had limited resources and fewer planes. PIA was at its best then and was declared the best airline in Asia several times from 1975 to 1985. The decline of this major economic entity came because it has fallen prey to the hunters of progress starting from the late 1990s when political tension laid waste to every field of life in Pakistan. Although today it remains by far Pakistan’s largest airline with a fleet of 30 airplanes and at least 14 more on order, its performance is pathetic. PIA is currently going through a process of privatisation to shift management from the government to the private sector. It employed nearly 19,000 people as of July 2014. The government should take some serious action and make it the great airline it was in the past. M USMAN SHEIKH Via Email