Pakistan releases Toshakhana gifts record for first time
Mar 12, 2023
Islamabad [Pakistan], March 12 : For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the federal government on Sunday made the record of Toshakhana gifts since 2002 public, Daily Pakistan reported.
The development comes days after Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the federal government had given nod to declassify the data of the state repository that stores gifts received by public officeholders from other governments and foreign dignitaries.
Daily Pakistan reported that the 446-page document contains the record of the period from 2002 to 2023. It reveals the list of gifts received by presidents, prime ministers and federal ministers. During 2023, the current coalition government received 59 gifts from different countries.
According to the records released by the government, 224 gifts were received in 2022, 116 gifts in 2021, 175 gifts in 2018 and 91 gifts in 2014 while government officials received 177 gifts in 2015.
The document carries records of gifts retained by later former president Gen (retd) Parvez Musharraf, former prime ministers Shaukat Aziz, Yusuf Raza Gilani, Raja Parvez Ashraf, Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, Daily Pakistan reported.
The record shows Imran Khan bought a diamond-gold watch worth PKR 85 million, a pair of cufflinks worth PKR 5.67 million, a pen worth PKR 1.5 million and a ring worth PKR 8.7 million. The former premier retained all the gifts by paying around PKR 20 million.
Besides that, the PTI chief retained another watch worth PKR 3.88 million by paying PKR 754,000.
The Toshakhana department, which was established in 1978, and all the public officeholders, including parliamentarians and bureaucrats, are bound to deposit gifts in it. The department came under the spotlight when the Election Commission of Pakistan initiated proceedings against former prime minister Imran Khan for disclosing the details of Toshakhana gifts retained by him in the declaration.
Last year, the ECP also disqualified the PTI chief as a member of the National Assembly in the Toshakhana case for not disclosing the gifts. A districts and sessions court in the federal capital is also hearing a criminal case after it was referred by the electoral body.
Notably, Imran Khan is accused of allegedly concealing details of the gifts in his assets declarations he retained from the Toshakhana, a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept, the Dawn reported.
Officials are legally allowed to retain gifts if they pay a pre-assessed amount, typically a fraction of the value of the gift, Dawn reported.
The Toshakhana case refers that Imran had not shared details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana (during his time as the prime minister) and proceeded with their reported sales.
