Is President Alvi performing Hajj at govt's expense?

• Social media abuzz about "huge entourage" of President Alvi.
• Press secretary claims Alvi paid all the Hajj expenses for his family. 
• Officials say seven members of president’s family accompany him.

ISLAMABAD: After President Arif Alvi and his family along with the security protocol left for the Hajj pilgrimage, a social media controversy arose about whether the government had funded the holy voyage.

However, rubbishing the rumours about the president performing Hajj at the government's expense, the press secretary to the Presidency claimed that Alvi was paying all the Hajj expenses for himself and his family on his own, The News reported. 

The mainstream and social media went abuzz about a "huge entourage" of President Alvi and his family for Hajj at the government’s expense, with initial reports of a 52-member delegation accompanying the head of the state.

President Alvi was massively criticised over reports of performing Hajj along with family and security staff on taxpayers’ money. 

Not only the president but Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Ishaq Dar had also been criticised for his statement about a special Hajj flight for the parliamentarians and federal cabinet members.

Later, a list of the 25-member delegation of the President, which included his family members and security staff, went viral on social media. The users raised questions about who else had left to perform Hajj on taxpayers’ money.

When contacted, the press secretary to the president confirmed the number of delegation members accompanying President Alvi and who was paying for their Hajj. 

He said that only seven members of the president’s family had departed for Hajj on a special flight, and he was paying all the expenses, including their tickets as well as the accommodation. 

This was the same flight on which federal ministers and parliamentarians were onboard.

The official said that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, among other parliamentarians, were aboard the same jet, and there was no chartered flight for the president, he said.

Meanwhile, the expenses for the president's protocol, including his ADC was being paid by themselves, the secretary added, saying that the rumours about a huge entourage of the president, his family and staff were "baseless".