A Pakistan International Airlines employee was shot dead Tuesday and several more were wounded after clashes broke out between law enforcement agencies and workers protesting the planned privatization of the national carrier.

A Pakistan International Airlines employee was shot dead Tuesday and several more were wounded after clashes broke out between law enforcement agencies and workers protesting the planned privatization of the national carrier, medics reported.

Police and paramilitary rangers deployed tear gas and water cannon on the protesters after they blocked the main entrance to Karachi's Jinnah International Airport around midday.

Seemi Jamali, head of the emergency department at the city's main Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre said the hospital had received four injured people, including two with non-fatal gunshot wounds.

Both law enforcement agencies denied they had opened fire on protesters.

Kamran Fazal, the police chief of the city's eastern district said: "The situation escalated when a couple of gunshots were fired. My officers told me that they might be fired from the crowd.

"We are searching for the empty shells and only then can we establish who opened fire."

The PIA employees' union had announced a day earlier its plans to shut down the airline's flights after weeks of token strikes against government proposals to complete the partial sale of the carrier by July.