ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: As many as Rs 4.47 billion were spent on foreign tours of six heads of states and governments in Pakistan from 2008 to 2018, sources said.
Citing details of expenditures incurred on the former leaders’ foreign tours sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Cabinet Division, sources said that a total of 333 foreign visits were undertaken by heads of states and governments from 2008 to 2018.
Sources said that as per the details, the largest expenditures were incurred on the foreign tours of the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as he undertook 92 visits abroad costing Rs 1.83 billion.
They said that the most number of foreign tours were undertaken by the former President Asif Ali Zardari, adding that he undertook 134 foreign visits which costed Rs 1.42 billion.
Likewise, Rs 571.6 million were incurred on the former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani’s 48 foreign tours while Rs 259.5 million were spent 19 foreign tours undertaken by the former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Furthermore, 31 foreign tours of the former President Mamnoon Hussain costing Rs 278.2 million whereas Rs 107.1 million were incurred on nine foreign tours undertaken by the former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
Sources further told that 142 foreign visits worth Rs 2.3731 billion were undertaken in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) while 191 foreign visits worth Rs 2.10 billion took place in Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) regime.
It’s also worth noting that on January 13, 2020, the National Assembly was told in a written reply by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi that the incumbent Prime Minister Imran Khan undertook 22 official foreign visits from September 2018 to date incurring the expenditure of Rs 119.57 million.
The House was also that a total of 440 persons accompanied Prime Minister Imran Khan on his 22 foreign visits.
