Former Pakistani PM returns necklace donated by Turkey’s first lady

ISLAMABAD

The former prime minister of Pakistan has returned a necklace donated by Turkey’s first lady, Emine Erdoğan, in 2010, adhering to the federal investigation agency’s (FIA) notice, Pakistan’s Dunya News has reported.

Former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had been ordered to return a necklace worth an estimated 200,000 Pakistani rupees which had been donated by Emine Erdoğan in 2010, when her husband, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was still Turkey’s prime minister, for flood-stricken people in Pakistan. However, the necklace was later reported to have disappeared. 

On June 26, Gilani eventually returned the necklace to Pakistan’s Public Records (NADRA) as he had previously pledged, while it was still unclear when it would be returned to Turkey.

Pakistani Interior Minister Chaurdhry Nisar Ali Khan had ordered the FIA to investigate the disappearance of the necklace, and during the probe Gilani had admitted he was holding the necklace. 

In its notice, the FIA had given Gilani three days to return the necklace or face a legal case.

Gilani had said after the necklace was donated by Emine Erdoğan, he planned a visit to a flood-relief camp in Pakistan’s Sindh province, where a couple was getting married, and he had intended to give it as a wedding gift to the bride.

However, he was surprised to be greeted by eight girls who were to be married that day, so he decided to keep the necklace himself and instead gift 200,000 rupees to each of the eight couples.