Pakistan court directs government to make public details of the gifts received by former PM Imran Khan

In a setback to Imran Khan a Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered the government to make public details of the gifts received by the former prime minister from foreign dignitaries since assuming office in August 2018Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb of the Islamabad High Court issued the directive to the Shehbaz Sharifled government after hearing two petitions one by a citizen seeking the implementation of the Pakistan Information Commission PIC order and the other by the Cabinet Division challenging that orderAfter a citizen approached the PIC to get details of the gifts it directed the Cabinet Division to provide the requested information about the gifts received by Khan from foreign heads of states heads of governments and other foreign dignitaries descriptionspecification of each gift information about the gifts retained by the Prime Minister and the rules under which gifts thus received are retained by himThe Cabinet Division was told to share the required information within 10 working days and also upload it on the official websiteBut the Cabinet Division challenged the PIC order in the Islamabad High Court after the then Pakistan TehreekeInsaf government said that the disclosure of any information may jeopardise ties with some countriesThe Islamabad High Court upheld the PIC order and observed that the gifts belonged to the office of the prime minister and were not to be taken homeGifts given to government officials by foreign governments belong to the state of Pakistan and not some individuals Justice Aurangzeb observed on WednesdayThese gifts are not meant for taking home he said adding that these gifts should be recovered if someone had taken them homeIndividuals come and go but the office of the prime minister of Pakistan is permanent the Express Tribune report said quoting the judgeThe High Court said that information regarding the gifts should be shared with the petitioner since there was no stay order regarding making the information about these gifts public the report saidThe court said that there should not be a policy of buying these state gifts by paying a meagre sumSuch a policy means that these gifts are on sale the judge saidJustice Aurangzeb added that if there was a need for constitutional interpretation regarding these gifts then the high court was willing to help the report saidLast week Prime Minister Sharif had alleged that his predecessor Khan during his tenure sold gifts from the Toshakhana or state depository worth Rs 140 million in DubaiThe Toshakhana scandal surfaced last year when it was reported that Khan as the premier received gifts such as wrist watches and bracelets from the Arab rulersInstead of depositing them in the Toshakhana Opposition parties alleged that Khan purchased back some of them at a throwaway price and in turn sold them in Dubai thus making hefty profitsIn response Khan on Monday said they were his gifts so it was his choice whether to keep them or notMera tohfa meri marzi my gift my choice Geo News Pakistan quoted Khan the first Pakistani prime minister to be ousted through a noconfidence motion as saying during an informal conversationAccording to Pakistans law any gift received from dignitaries of a foreign state must be put in the ToshakhanaKhan 69 has maintained that he was well within his right to buy those gifts according to law and that he had changed the rules and made it mandatory for officials to pay at least 50 per cent of the value of the gift which was 25 per cent earlierThe cricketerturned politician has stated that whatever he bought from Toshakhana is on record and if anyone has evidence regarding corruption he should come forwardI thank God that in three years of rule all they have got against me is this Toshakhana gift scandal which is already on record ARY News Pakistan quoted Khan as sayingAccording to Pakistani media reports the former premier received 58 gifts worth more than Rs 140 million from world leaders during his threeandahalfyear stint and retained all of them either by paying a negligible amount or even without any paymentThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever