AJK assembly told Ex-president, two PMs spent Rs80m on foreign tours

MUZAFFARABAD, April 27: Former AJK President Raja Zulqarnain Khan and two former prime ministers spent more than Rs80 million from the taxpayers money on their 23 official tours to different foreign lands between 2006 and 2011, some for as longer durations as five weeks, the AJK Legislative Assembly learnt here on Friday.

The information was shared by the government during the question hour in response to a query by main opposition PML-N legislator from Bhimber, Chaudhry Tariq Farooq.

According to the details, from 2006 to 2011, President Khan, who also belongs to Bhimber, had undertaken seven foreign tours, mostly in summers to the European countries, for over 110 days. In two consecutive years, he had spent one month each in UK and other Europeans states.

Former prime minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan had made 13 foreign trips from July 2006 to December 2008 and from August 2010 to July 2011, spanning over165 or so days. One of these tours lasted for more than 35 days.

In between, Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan, who remained prime minister from January to October 2009, also visited Syria, US, Canada and UK for a total of 23 days.

Former premier Raja Farooq Haider was, however, the exception, as he did not visit any country during his nine-month rule from October 2009 to July 2010.

Mr Haider, now leader of the opposition, remarked on a point of order that he was happy that he had not committed that sin.

The house was told that these tours had cost a total of Rs81.331 to the exchequer. Of this amount, Rs8.1 million was drawn from Kashmir liberation cell, a body that generates funds mainly from (levy of a) cess on the salaries of government servants.

Regarding their utility, the written reply claimed that during the tours “steps were taken for projection of Kashmir cause at international level, orientation of the issues of Kashmiri expatriates and their settlement.”

Apart from that, “foreign investors and financial institutions were also invited to make investments in Azad Kashmir,” it added.

As Mr Farooq sought details of the investment that had poured in as a result of these tours, there was no plausible reply from the treasury.

Taking the floor, Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed, however, said expenditures worth Rs80 or Rs90 million for the cause of Kashmir were no big deal and asked the opposition “not to make issue of a non-issue.”

Interestingly, the written reply also claimed that all expenditures had been accounted for under the relevant rules but Mr Farooq told newsmen later that many audit objections were still pending particularly about some tours of the former president.

The session missed senior minister Chaudhry Yasin who was nonplussed by Mr Farooq in Wednesday’s sitting following which he had pledged to furnish “comprehensive replies” to the questions regarding his local government and rural development department. The house was adjourned till May 3.

http://dawn.com/2012/04/28/ajk-assembly-told-ex-president-two-pms-spent-rs80m-on-foreign-tours/