Sir: Apropos the article titled ‘Private Deals’ by Andleeb Abbas appeared in Daily Times on December 13, 2015. It is unfortunate that the writer takes a narrow and rather restricted view of the privatisation issue and erroneously restricts it to the personal interests of the prime minister and the people around him. In the larger national context, a wider vision would suggest that privatisation offers a workable panacea for bleeding national institutions and could prove a workable route towards their recovery. These institutions are riddled with a whole variety of problems both of a financial and administrative nature and once private parties are brought in to manage them, these ills could be controlled. As for the writer’s interpretation that privatisation would necessarily lead to the benefits accruing to Mr Nawaz Sharif in some way and to his friends and relatives, is rather ludicrous and should be viewed in that spirit. The prime minister is a leader of vision and he has all the right to appoint the right person in the right job. The fruits of his forward thinking will become visible in due time. He is rightly looking at private parties to take control of sick national institutions so that their burden can be taken away from the public sector and the private sector can make them viable once again. Let us strengthen his hands rather creating hurdles. HASSAN KHAN Via Email