ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday reprimanded adviser to the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions Asma Arbab Alamgir in the House after learning that she enjoyed a protocol with a motorcade allegedly consisting 40 official vehicles.
Speaking on a point of order, Laiq Muhammad Khan, brother of sacked JUI-F minister Azam Swati, said he had witnessed an adviser traveling in Abbotabad with a security protocol consisting of around 40 official vehicles. “In times like these when people are dying of hunger, advisers move with such large motorcades and the vehicles burn not just oil, but the blood of the poor masses,” he said.
He said that the vehicles of the National Highway Authority and Motorway Police were escorting the adviser. He claimed that he had also recorded video of the motorcade. Despite some of PPP members’ requests for disclosing the name of the advisor, Laiq did not reveal the name but the house including its leader Prime Minister Gilani comfortably reached at the name of the advisor being provided extra protocol by the NHA and Motorway Police.
After directing Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khurshid Shah to respond to Laiq’s point of order, the prime minister reprimanded Asma Arbab Alamgir when she voluntarily came to Gilani to clarify her position. Speaking on a point of order later, she denied traveling with the alleged motorcade.
“We (Asma and her husband Arbab Alamgir, minister for communication) have received threats from terrorists and I travel with a security protocol on the advice of the Interior Ministry and the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There were only one to two official security vehicles in my motorcade,” she added.
However, Laiq said he himself had counted 18 security vehicles in Asma’s convoy. Taking part in the controversy, Adviser to PM Ghazanfar Gul said Laiq had changed his statement and reduced the number of vehicles from 40 to 18 within a few minutes. When Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi asked Gul whether he was ready for the formation of a special committee to probe the matter, the adviser retreated and opposed the formation of such a committee.
