ISLAMABAD: The mystery of the ‘missing’ necklace, donated by the wife of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the flood-hit people of Pakistan in 2010, appeared to be resolving on Friday as former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani admitted that it was in his possession.

However, talking to Dawn, the former prime minister and former National Database and Registration Authority chairman Ali Arshad Hakeem offered conflicting accounts.

Also read: Missing necklace stumps sleuths

Mr Gilani said he had close ties with the Erdogan family and Mrs Erdogan was like a sister to him. “The necklace belongs to my sister and is with me.”

He said that after the necklace was donated by the Turkish first lady, he expressed a desire to visit a flood-relief camp in Sindh where a couple was getting married. He said he was invited to a camp and to his surprise, was greeted by eight girls waiting to get married.

He said he had the necklace evaluated and the market price was put at around Rs200,000. He said he had taken the necklace there with the intention of gifting it to a bride, but since there was only one necklace and eight couples, he decided that each couple should be given Rs200,000.

He confirmed that the necklace had been donated by Mrs Erdogan, but was bought back by the Turkish people so they could give it back to her. He said he also wanted to do the same again.

Mr Gilani told Dawn that the Prime Minister’s Flood Relief Fund helped generate Rs7 billion. “I could have paid the amount from that or out of the discretionary fund, or I could have ordered the chief minister to make the payment,” he remarked, but said that while at the event, his staff had told him that the amount had been “arranged”.

He said the necklace had not been auctioned, adding that had it been purchased by Nadra it would have certainly been in their possession. “It was with me and it is still with me,” he remarked.

However, Mr Hakeem told Dawn that Nadra had decided to purchase the necklace so it could be returned to Mrs Erdogan.

Referring to the mass wedding ceremony in a Sindh flood-relief camp, he said that photos from the ceremony were also prepared so they could be sent to Mrs Erdogan to let her see how her gesture worked. He said that both the necklace and the albums had been sent to the Prime Minister’s House, ostensibly to be sent back to the Turkish first lady.

But Mr Gilani disagreed, asking, “How did he arrange the amount and on whose orders? I did not order him and most probably the interior minister (Rehman Malik) also did not order him to do so.”

Stressing his close ties with the Erdogan family, the former prime minister said that his son Ali Haider’s honeymoon had also been arranged by the Erdogan family in Istanbul.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play