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Gilani’s Dubai visit cost nation Rs10m  
By Muhammad Ahmad Noorani
7/15/2008 ISLAMABAD:
The diversion of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza
Gilaniís plane from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai, instead of
landing at Islamabad after attending the D-8 Summit,
cost the national exchequer more than 10 million rupees,
sources told The News on Monday.
Gilani and his 40-member delegation, which also included
one member from the opposition and five businessmen, had
left the country on July 7 to attend the Summit. More
than 50 security personnel and bureaucrats had gone to
Kuala Lumpur in advance.
According to some members of the delegation, the team
was to land back in Islamabad. However, the plane was
diverted to the UAE, where Gilani and some other PPP
leaders were to attend a party meeting. According to
sources in the PIA, the flight diversion cost the
government a total of Rs1.6 million in terms of
aviation, fuel and some other charges. Besides this,
said the sources, keeping in view the summer, which is a
ëseasoní of travelling, the extra use of plane cost the
PIA over Rs5 million.
The sources told The News that after reaching Dubai,
some bureaucrats and members of the delegation were
accommodated in the luxurious Grand Hyatt Hotel, one of
the most expensive hotels in the world. The remaining
delegation members were ëchecked iní in yet another
luxurious hotel, Move-n-Pick. Information Minister
Sherry Rahman, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Syed
Khursheed Shah and Minister for Kashmir and Northern
Areas Qamar-ul-Zaman Kaira had directly reached Dubai
from Pakistan to attend the CEC meeting.
According to the sources, 40 rooms were reserved in the
Grand Hyatt Hotel besides the rooms reserved in the
other hotel. Those members of the delegation who were
not part of the PPP meeting remained ìstuck to their
roomsî as a tour of Dubai was not scheduled.
Sheikh Waqas Akram, a senior PML-Q leader and the member
of the delegation, while confirming the information to
The News, said it was very unfortunate that our rulers
were enjoying stays in luxury hotels at a time when the
nation was suffering from its worst-ever crisis. Sherry
Rahman, despite several attempts by The News, was not
available to take the calls. Principal Information
Officer Ghulam Hazoor Bajwa, however, said the Dubai
visit was a scheduled one, saying that he was in the
knowledge of it even before the prime minister had left
the country.
Source:
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/print1.asp?id=124093 |
