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Pakistani PM wants to enlarge his
luxurious bullet-proof fleet**
ISLAMABAD: Before going into elections, Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has a wish: to move like a real raja in the security of top of the line luxurious bullet-proof Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), it was learnt.
According to a tender floated by the cabinet division in newspapers on Dec 22 last year, the government wants to purchase six brand new bullet-proof vehicles of latest model.
The advertisement said that bids for the tender would be opened by Jan.25 and successful bidders had to supply the vehicles within 30 days of the award of the contract.
The PM’s press secretary, Shafqat Jalil, said: “The SUVs are being purchased because of security concerns. Let’s not turn it into a controversy since we are purchasing the vehicles for the office of the prime minister, and not for any individual. They will stay with the office of the premier in the long run.”
He said the vehicles would cost around a million dollars, explaining, “A SUV is priced at least $150,000 and the cost of converting it into a bullet-proof vehicle (like installation of ballistic steel body and bullet-proof mirrors etc) will come to $50,000.”
Meanwhile, it is not clear why the Prime Minister’s office needs six SUVs. Currently the prime minister uses a bullet-proof Mercedes of executive model. But it is not known how many bullet-proof vehicles are in his fleet.
A security official said all the premiers had mostly used bullet proof Mercedes cars over the years and that the protocol demands were of a car and not an SUV.
“Every prime minister takes a bullet-proof vehicle with him when he leaves office,” he said.
An official who had worked for former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani said Gilani still uses a government-owned bullet-proof vehicle and that he was entitled to do so.
Internews
Raja ki baaraat aa rahi hey kya jo aur cars chahiye, wo bhi SUVs… abba ka maal hey… to put it in Punjabi…anni pai hui aey ena ney 
