BARCELONA; Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Abdul Qadir Gilani was robbed of a gold-plated luxury watch worth over Rs18.4 million in Barcelona, Spain, in what is being described as one of the most expensive street thefts involving a Pakistani politician abroad in recent years.
Speaking to reporters, Gilani said the watch, which he bought 13 years ago when gold prices were significantly lower, is now valued at nearly triple its original price. “I was with my family, and the watch was in my hand,” he recounted, adding that his host in Barcelona was also targeted by the thieves.
“As long as there is life, the world goes on; such things come and go,” the PPP lawmaker remarked philosophically.
The Gilani family of Multan is among Pakistan’s most prominent political dynasties. Abdul Qadir’s brothers, Ali Musa Gilani and newly elected MNA Qasim Gilani, also sit in the National Assembly, while another brother, Ali Haider Gilani, serves as a PPP MPA in the Punjab Assembly. They are the sons of former prime minister and current Senate Chairman Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani.
Last year, the family faced unverified allegations of misusing public funds for a London trip — claims denied by PPP MNA Qasim Gilani, who insisted it was privately funded.
