LAHORE: Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said involving the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the matter of the ‘missing’ necklace donated by the Turkish First Lady showed the government’s intent of his ‘character assassination’.

He said the controversy should have ended when he had told the government that the piece of jewellery was with him.

“Once I had told that necklace was with me the matter was resolved. Either Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or Chaudhry Nisar could have talked to me over the matter (if some clarification was still required). I think we are not strangers to each other. The controversy over the missing necklace should have been over at the first instance. But ‘my friends’ chose to continue with it by engaging the FIA which shows their clear intention that they are more interested in my character assassination and media trial,” Mr Gilani told Dawn here on Tuesday.

On the instructions of interior minister Chaudhry Nisar, the FIA last Saturday sent a questionnaire to Mr Gilani, inquiring about the necklace of the Turkish First Lady. The necklace was donated by the wife of Turkish President (then prime minister) Recep Tayyib Erdogan in 2010 to the flood-affected people of Pakistan.

The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) then chairman Ali Arshad Hakeem had purchased the necklace so that it could be returned to the Turkish First Lady.

To a question about responding to the FIA notice, Mr Gilani said: “I will appear before any FIA inspector Chaudhry Nisar appoints for recording my statement on the matter.”

Angry over what he called ‘victimisation’ by the PML-N government, the former prime minister said: “My friends should think what I would have done if I were in their shoes (in this matter). At an appropriate time I will respond to them as everyone has (to face) such allegations.”

“We are closely watching what the PML-N government is doing with us. And there is a limit to test our patience,”the former premier added.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2015

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