The rules of austerity do not seem to apply to Pakistan’s interim prime minister, Anwaarul Haq Kakar, who visited the Eiffel Tower with his family in Paris while on his way to New York. While Pakistanis are being urged to drink less tea to save on imports, their prime minister dined at a restaurant on top of the Eiffel Tower.
“The special flight was diverted, and he had dinner there with wife and two children. Bill was paid by the embassy, dinner per person was 300 euro,” said senior Pakistani journalist Zaheed Hussain on X (Formerly Twitter).
Social media platforms are bursting with reactions from the Pakistani public, who are accusing Kakar of “enjoying on taxpayers’ money” and behaving “like a kid who has no clue how their parent earns money”.
It's like that kid who has no clue how their parent earns money, yet they're spending it freely. Same goes for PM Kakar, enjoying on taxpayer money.
— Shah Faisal Afridi (@faisalafridi007) September 29, 2023
Author Ayesha Siddiqa also stepped in to question the interim PM’s move. “The question is not that money wasn’t wasted but that why did they allow him to do so.”
Kakar’s foreign jaunt comes as Pakistan, struggling with an economic crisis for years, received an emergency $3 billion IMF bailout in July due to low foreign exchange reserves.
Official sources confirmed to Dawn that Kakar made the Paris pit stop while on his way to attend the United Nations General Assembly session being held in New York City.
The family dinner at the Eiffel Tower seems to be the highlight of the trip. Kakar, who was scheduled to meet world leaders on the sidelines of his visit to the UN, reportedly did not meet anyone. His schedule included meetings with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and an official US delegation.
Both of these meetings did not happen, but he is said to have enjoyed a nice Turkish dinner during his five-day stay in New York City before heading on to London, where he may have secretly met former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
According to media reports, the interim government is engaged in negotiations with Saudi Arabia and China, seeking an extension on $11 billion worth of loans. Islamabad is currently unable to repay these maturing loans.
Foreign trips galore
Kakar is following in the footsteps of Pakistani leaders who enjoy taking expensive foreign trips. Asif Ali Zardari, who served as the President of Pakistan between 2008 and 2013, once billed $1.1 million to the State exchequer for his visit to New York, reported The Express Tribune.
During his tenure, Zardari made 134 foreign trips, with an entourage of around 3,227 people. He spent a total of 257 days abroad. Nawaz’s four-year tenure also saw him spend 262 days abroad. In 2016, Nawaz spent $901,250 on his visit to New York.
During the first nine months of Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government between April 2022 and January 2023, the government of Pakistan spent over $200,000 on foreign trips.