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PM’s foreign visits in 15 months cost exchequer Rs294 million - Pakistan - DAWN.COM
Pretty cheap for a head of state. That's about $200,000 per trip or 2 crore rupees. But there's more, the trip to the UN cost nearly a million dollar. So in essence, now 15 trips cost around $133,000.
Now I know all the potians are going to come in here and say "look this dude flying on tax payers money! let's kick him out of power! screw democrazy, bring martial law and raheel sharif as president!"
But sorry to burst your bubble, but the costs are not Nawaz's alone. His private plane is filled with other members, be it family or cabinet. There has to be security arrangements. Same goes for Raheel sheriff. He recently ordered a 30 million dollars VVIP private jet for the armed forces. He took his wife to London in it. There were other army officers too. Even if Imran is in power, the security team will have to go to Afghanistan, intelligence officers etc. Many things come into play in background that isn't shared. All we know is the cost. And that cost is much lower than some other foreign leaders, such as Briton's, India's and so forth. Flying economy class is not an economically solution due to security checks and so forth. Also, imagine if the prime minister has to work and there are kids crying or bunch of people asking for autographs or angry potians who want to grab Nawaz by his collar.
With all that said, we can compare Nawaz's visit to UN that cost 1 million dollar and his visit to US that cost $350,000. In the UN's visit, he was there from 23-29 whereas in the US, he was there from 20-23. So daily security cost, vehicle rental and etc is bound to increase. However, in the UN's visit, he was there for 6 days unlike 3 days later. So the total cost should've been $700,000. It is not known (may additional cabinet members flew etc) why $300,000 extra cost the nations taxpayers.
Nawaz's regional visit cost some 10-50k dollars. Example, Nawaz's day long visit to Afghanistan cost $10,000. PIA's ticket may cost some $300-$500. With security arrangements, other people flying with him, $10,000 is a low amount.
Again, potians be like "oh look this guy defending Nawaz." Point is, be it Nawaz, Imran (who also travels private jet and lives lavishly) or Raheel (who ordered $30 million jet and took his wife with him), these are all common things. No matter who replaces these guys, these things are bound to happen.
The only thing we can argue about is, Nawaz shouldn't fly on state's money because he's billionare and Imran khan can fly on tax payers money because he's not billionare.
Finally, this is the beauty of democracy no matter how much you abuse it. If it was some dictator, he'd never share the costs. But thanks to democracy do we have many liberties such as this.
Some of the costs of visit to US, as example:
Consulate members or ambassadors will fly or arrive to where PM is heading.
PM will bring cabinet member or family member along.
There will be security team also arriving, perhaps before and during.
Hotel for PM and security teams as well as cabinet member or family.
Bullet proof car rental.
Above is just to name a few. The cost from national yearly budget is 0.01%. 3 million from 33 billion
Pretty cheap for a head of state. That's about $200,000 per trip or 2 crore rupees. But there's more, the trip to the UN cost nearly a million dollar. So in essence, now 15 trips cost around $133,000.
Now I know all the potians are going to come in here and say "look this dude flying on tax payers money! let's kick him out of power! screw democrazy, bring martial law and raheel sharif as president!"
But sorry to burst your bubble, but the costs are not Nawaz's alone. His private plane is filled with other members, be it family or cabinet. There has to be security arrangements. Same goes for Raheel sheriff. He recently ordered a 30 million dollars VVIP private jet for the armed forces. He took his wife to London in it. There were other army officers too. Even if Imran is in power, the security team will have to go to Afghanistan, intelligence officers etc. Many things come into play in background that isn't shared. All we know is the cost. And that cost is much lower than some other foreign leaders, such as Briton's, India's and so forth. Flying economy class is not an economically solution due to security checks and so forth. Also, imagine if the prime minister has to work and there are kids crying or bunch of people asking for autographs or angry potians who want to grab Nawaz by his collar.
With all that said, we can compare Nawaz's visit to UN that cost 1 million dollar and his visit to US that cost $350,000. In the UN's visit, he was there from 23-29 whereas in the US, he was there from 20-23. So daily security cost, vehicle rental and etc is bound to increase. However, in the UN's visit, he was there for 6 days unlike 3 days later. So the total cost should've been $700,000. It is not known (may additional cabinet members flew etc) why $300,000 extra cost the nations taxpayers.
Nawaz's regional visit cost some 10-50k dollars. Example, Nawaz's day long visit to Afghanistan cost $10,000. PIA's ticket may cost some $300-$500. With security arrangements, other people flying with him, $10,000 is a low amount.
Again, potians be like "oh look this guy defending Nawaz." Point is, be it Nawaz, Imran (who also travels private jet and lives lavishly) or Raheel (who ordered $30 million jet and took his wife with him), these are all common things. No matter who replaces these guys, these things are bound to happen.
The only thing we can argue about is, Nawaz shouldn't fly on state's money because he's billionare and Imran khan can fly on tax payers money because he's not billionare.
Finally, this is the beauty of democracy no matter how much you abuse it. If it was some dictator, he'd never share the costs. But thanks to democracy do we have many liberties such as this.
Some of the costs of visit to US, as example:
Consulate members or ambassadors will fly or arrive to where PM is heading.
PM will bring cabinet member or family member along.
There will be security team also arriving, perhaps before and during.
Hotel for PM and security teams as well as cabinet member or family.
Bullet proof car rental.
Above is just to name a few. The cost from national yearly budget is 0.01%. 3 million from 33 billion
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