Gilani's son 'on the run?'

Islamabad, April 12 (IANS) Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's son, Ali Musa Gilani, has left Pakistan, said a daily, adding that it was, "of course purely coincidental" that he went abroad because there was a possibility of his name appearing on the Exit Control List (ECL).

An editorial titled "On the run?" in the News International Thursday said: "It is of course purely coincidental that the prime minister's son has left the country for South Africa and thence onwards probably to the UK."

Calling it "pure coincidence", the daily said it was "totally unconnected to the possibility of his name going on the Exit Control List (ECL) as a result of ongoing investigations into the granting of a quota for medical ingredients to two pharmaceutical companies".

"His foreign travel plans have not the remotest connection with him possibly being at some future date and in connection with this complex investigation; being asked by a court to state precisely what 'influence' he may have deployed in the granting of illegal quotas.

"Nobody should read anything into his implausible assertion that this peregrination is anything other than a conveniently-timed late honeymoon, all perfectly above board and straight as a ruler," said the editorial.

It went on to say that the Supreme Court has "the whiff of corruption in its nostrils again, and bloodhound that it is, is following the scent - which in the case of the granting of illegal quotas by the then federal health ministry may lead back to Ali Musa Gilani, a man of influence".

"Once again the Supreme Court was having none of this behind-the-arras attempts to obstruct its work and ordered that they continue their work," it said.

"...there is a sense that there is much that is yet to come to light, despite the best efforts of the PM and others to ensure that darkness prevails. The road to accountability is paved with the bones of those who sought to avoid it. We await the return of Ali Musa Gilani with interest."