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.
Courtesy: THE NEWS
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