Bilawal Bhutto, the leader of the opposition PPP in Pakistan, mocked Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia. He said the cost of rice bag charities from Saudi Arabia is lesser than the expenses incurred on Khan’s visit to the Gulf country. 

King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, a Saudi aid agency, had announced a couple of days back that it would provide 440 tonnes (19,032 bags) of rice under its Zakat al Fitr project for distribution in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.

And the distribution of rice bags started as soon as Khan returned from Saudi Arabia. It gave an impression as if the charity was linked to his trip to the Gulf country. 

“The price of rice bags got in charity is comparatively lesser than the expenses incurred on the tour to the kingdom by Imran Khan along with a couple of dozen of friends and ministers,” Bilawal was quoted as saying by Dawn. 

Mocking Khan, he asked, “Imran Khan became the prime minister after 22 years of struggle just to get rice sacks for an atomic power country?”

Soon after his statement, Tahir Ashrafi, Imran Khan’s special assistant, clarified that the rice charity wasn’t new and in fact had been going on for years. (SAM)