Gillani Hypocrisy Watch

In a post yesterday, I pointed two seemingly contradictory statements by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani. He seems to be making a habit of it.

First he makes this statement:

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday asked all public departments to take the VIP culture as a thing of the past and asked them to emulate the National Highways and Motorway Police.

Good advice that he doesn't intend to follow:

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.