September 20, 2003	Saturday	Rajab 22, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: Two supplementary budgetary grants of over Rs25 million have been approved by the prime minister for a 15-day trip by three delegations of around 50 parliamentarians to the United States as the “non-official component” of the delegation to the United Nations General Assembly session.

Finance ministry sources said on Friday that the delegations would be in addition to the official entourage of the president and the prime minister.

Sources said that number of delegation members would cross 100 when those accompanying the president and the prime minister with media teams were taken into consideration, making it the country’s largest delegation visiting a foreign country. The trip was estimated to cost over Rs60 million, the sources said.

According to documents made available to Dawn, the prime minister has approved the names of the parliamentarians, mostly belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League, who would go to the US.

An amount of $196,000 would be spent as minimum accommodation charges at the peak rates of $400 per night for the delegates for 14 days in New York, $84,590 would be paid as daily allowance at the rate of $102 per night per head to 35 members and $204 per night to six. Another $15,000 would be paid as transportation charges for which two cars and a mini-van have been hired for two months with drivers. Expenditure on entertainment by the heads of delegations and permanent representatives is estimated at $10,000. The total expenditure on daily allowance, accommodation, transportation and entertainment is estimated at $305,590. Another Rs7.5 million has been approved for the purchase of 41 business class Islamabad-New York-Islamabad air tickets.

One delegation comprises: ministers Sheikh Rashid Ahmad and Mohammad Raza Hayat Hiraj; senators S.M. Zafar, Nisar Ahmed Memon and Roshan Khurshid Bharucha; MNAs Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, Ishaq Khan Khakwani and Mehnaz Rafi of the PML; Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada of the National Alliance; MPA Dr Sameen Mahmood Jan of the PML; Syed Naveed Qamar of the PPP; M. Akram Zaki and the prime minister’s former special assistant, Mansoor Hamid.

The members of another delegation are: Ministers Zubaida Jalal and Mohammad Nasir Khan; Senator Babar Ghori of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement; MNAs Ali Asjad Malhi, Wasi Zafar, Prof Mushtaq Victor, Malik Amid Aslam Khan, Kashmala Tariq and MPA Dr Rukia Saeed of the PML; Senator Asfandyar Wali of the ANP; MNA Sumaira Malik of the National Alliance; economist Dr Akmal Hussain and former National Council of Arts principal Saleema Hashmi.

Ministers Liaqat Ali Jatoi, Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari and Syed Safwanullah; MNAs Ejazul Haq, Umar Ahmed Ghuman, Haroon Qaiser, Zahid Hamid Khan, Dr Noor Jehan Panezai, Zeb Gohar Ayub Khan and Dr Attiya Enayatullah of the PML; Sardar Saleem Jan Mazari of the National Alliance; former Export Promotion Bureau chairman Wajid Jawad and Kabir Ali Wasti comprise the third delegation.