Islamabad_The federal government has made public the Toshakhana record online,
The 446-page record of Toshakhana gifts from 2002 to March 2023 had been uploaded on the website.
In the ongoing year, the government received 59 gifts and according to data, 224 gifts were received in 2022, 116 gifts in 2021, 175 gifts in 2018, and 91 gifts in 2014, while 177 gifts were received by government officials in 2015.
The Toshakhana department, which was established in 1978, and all the public officeholders, including parliamentarians and bureaucrats, are bound to report the gifts to the Cabinet Division.
The department came under the spotlight after proceedings were initiated against former prime minister Imran Khan for concealing the details of gifts.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified the PTI chief as a member of the National Assembly hiding the gifts last year.
President Arif Alvi, former president Pervez Musharraf, ex-PMs Shaukat Aziz, Yusuf Raza Gilani, Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan are among the personalities who got these precious items.
The Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman bought a diamond-gold watch, cufflinks, pen, ring for more than Rs20 million. A precious wooden box and 2 perfumes worth Rs500,000 were taken without payment.
The stuff got by President Dr Arif Alvi include Rs576,500 tasbih, Rs130, 000 pen, Rs1.75 million watch and Rs 175,000 perfumes without paying.
The items bought by former PM Nawaz Sharif include a Mercedes Benz Rolex watch and cufflinks and 4 commemorative coins.
In 2018, Fawad Hasan Fawad received a watch worth Rs 1.9 million for Rs374000. In 2018, Prime Minister’s Military Secretary Brigadier Waseem received a watch worth Rs2 million for Rs 394,000.
The announcement was made by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on his official Twitter handle.
“The cabinet has allowed the declassification of Toshakhana records. It would soon be posted on the website of the cabinet division,” the minister wrote in a tweet.
As per the country’s law, any gift received from dignitaries of a foreign state must be put in the state depository or the Toshakhana.
Established in 1974, the Toshakhana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division and stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries.
The Toshakhana controversy caught media attention after the former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was accused of hiding details of the gifts he received during his tenure in the government.
Last year in June, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had constituted a ministerial committee to redesign the Toshakhana policy.
The committee was comprised of ministers of defence, law and commerce. The committee also included secretaries of finance, information and foreign affairs. The committee finalised recommendations within a month and submitted a report to the prime minister.
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