'Time is money': Pakistani lawmaker robbed of gold-plated watch worth over Rs18m in Barcelona

• PPP lawmaker robbed while on family trip to Spain.
• Gilani recalls buying watch 13 years earlier.
• Host’s watch also snatched in Barcelona incident.
  

Thieves snatched an expensive gold-plated watch worth more than Rs18.4 million from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Abdul Qadir Gilani in the Spanish city of Barcelona before fleeing the scene.

“I bought it 13 years ago, back when gold was cheaper; now it is three times higher,” said Abdul Qadir Gilani. “I was with my family, and the watch was in my hand,” he added, noting that his host in Barcelona was also robbed.

“As long as there is life, there is the world; such things come and go,” the PPP lawmaker remarked.

The current value of the stolen timepiece, which Gilani said he purchased long before gold prices surged, makes the theft one of the costlier street crimes involving a Pakistani public figure abroad in recent memory.

The Gilani family of Multan is a prominent political dynasty. Three brothers — Abdul Qadir Gilani, Ali Musa Gilani and newly elected MNA Qasim Gilani — are member of the National Assembly. 

They are the sons of former prime minister and incumbent Senate Chairman Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani. Their other brother, Ali Haider Gilani, is a PPP MPA in the Punjab Assembly.

In a rare coincidence, MNAs Ali Musa and Qasim, along with Ali Haider, were all born on the same day — April 10, 1986 — making the present National Assembly home to a set of twins in the form of Ali Musa and Qasim.

In August 2024 unsubstantiated allegations surfaced that Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani, along with MNAs Ali Qasim and Abdul Qadir, and their sister Fiza Batool Gilani, had travelled to London using public funds.

PPP lawmaker, Ali Qasim, said the visit was entirely private, funded by the family, and “not costing a penny” to Pakistani taxpayers.