Urgency made FM Qureshi falsify PM Imran’s austerity claim?

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PakistanToday
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Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday left Pakistan to meet Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Pakistan Air Force plane whereas PTI Chief Imran Khan has promised not to spend money on foreign tours and if necessary then travel in economy class.

But FM Qureshi defied his leader’s claim and went to Kabul on PAF jet. A journalist Umar Cheema shared a picture on Twitter in which FM Qureshi is descending from a offical jet in Kabul.


Another tweet about the FM’s tour was posted from the PTI’s official account in which most of the Twitter users and followers instead of discussing the tour, objected to the use of official plane by the FM.


The foreign tours at government expense are very alluring. Being the prime minister, Imran Khan can adopt austerity but his ministers, advisers and other PTI leaders are not expected to do the same. For example, after taking oath as Punjab CM, Sardar Usman Buzdar along with his family members had used an official helicopter for his private tour to Mian Channu in Khanewal district to condole with a friend on the demise of the latter’s father. He also travelled to Islamabad from Lahore by helicopter. The CM and his family also used a official helicopter to visit the shrine of Baba Fareed in Pakpattan.

Earlier, Federal Minister of Information Fawad Chaudhry in an interview to a local news channel, made an astounding disclosure about the cost of the travel of helicopter, being used to commute by Prime Minister Imran Khan from PM house to Bani Gala which costs between 50 to 55 rupees per kilometer. And now FM Qureshi has crossed the line.

Interestingly, the KP Assembly spent three times more on foreign visits of its members and staff as compared to legislators in the Punjab during the last five years. The data shows the KP Assembly, which had 124 members, spent Rs53.6 million on foreign tours and over 60 members of the KP Assembly embarked on state-funded foreign tours.

KP Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser travelled abroad 10 times, including six trips to England, and one trip each to the United States, Iran, Scotland and Africa. Qaiser spent Rs5.5 million from the provincial budget on his trips.

Nawaz Sharif did the same as the prime minister. His foreign trips, between 2013 and 2017, cost the national exchequer more than Rs1 billion. The former premier made 64 foreign trips during his time in office. The trips cost the national exchequer in excess of Rs1 billion. Sharif undertook 10 foreign trips in 2013, 11 in 2014, 23 in 2015 and 9 each in 2016 and 2017. Nawaz Sharif spent more time abroad than in the assembly. According to data, the premier spent a total of 185 days abroad during 65 foreign tours with accompanying staff of 631 officers which cost the exchequer Rs638.27 million.

By contrast, the former premier visited the National Assembly just 35 times during his 940 days in power.

 

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