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ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday said that the state gifts can not be taken home and ordered to recover all the Toshakhana gifts.
IHC judge Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb made the remarks while hearing the Cabinet Division’s petition against sharing the details of the foreign gifts obtained by former prime minister Imran Khan. Earlier, the Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) had ordered to provide the details of the state gifts received by the then prime minister to the citizen.
“State gifts belong to the office. These [gifts] can not be taken home,” remarked the judge. He ordered to recover the Toshakhana gifts from those who had taken them home.
“People come and go but the Prime Minister’s Office remains the same,” he stated.
Justice Aurangzeb remarked that the Cabinet Division is bound to provide information, adding that there is no stay order against the decision of the information commission.
The IHC judge said that there shouldn’t have been a policy to pay a percentage of the actual price and take the gift home. He stated that all the state gifts should be kept at a public place. He underscored the need for a new policy under which all the state gifts should be submitted to the national kitty.
During the course of the proceedings, the IHC ordered to provide the details of gifts received by then prime minister Imran Khan.
At the outset of today’s hearing, Deputy Attorney General Arshad Kiani pleaded with the court to give him time to take directions and information about the gifts.
‘Mera tohfa, meri marzi,’
On April 18, ex-prime minister Imran Khan responded to the Toshakana controversy and said they were his gifts, so it was his choice whether to keep them or not.
“Mera tohfa, meri marzi [my gift, my choice],” the PTI chairman, who became the first prime minister to be ousted through the no-trust vote, told reporters during an informal conversation.
The issue came to light last week when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that Imran Khan, during his tenure, sold Toshakhana gifts in Dubai worth Rs140 million.
According to reports, the former premier received 58 gifts worth more than Rs140 million from the world leaders during his three-and-a-half-year stint and retained all of them either by paying a negligible amount or even without any payment.
“I deposited a gift sent by a president at my residence. Whatever I took from Toshakana is on record. I purchased the gifts after paying 50% of the cost,” Khan had said.
He had said that the PTI government changed the policy of retaining gits and increased the price from 15% to 50%.
“Had I wanted to make money, I would have declared my house as a camp office but I did not,” he had added.
More to follow…