Untold Tales of Toshakhana

Asem Mustafa Awan

The 466-page Toshakhana (gift depository) record from 2002 to 2023 has taken the nation by surprise after being made public by uploading it on the Cabinet Division’s official website.

The action was taken on the orders of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The twenty-one-year record is both astounding and jaw-dropping. The powerful elite plagiarised the ‘state gifts’ without a second thought, and not only that—the elite and their families also stole the gifts in the hope that the ‘national secret will be unearthed’.

The legal justification for keeping these gifts was previously established by the ruling class but there was no transparency when it came to figuring out the cost of objects ranging in value from basic furniture to extremely expensive cars. How the state gifts from various heads of state might be valued at a mere pittance or items purchased from ‘pawn shops’ needs to be investigated by the people doing evaluation of the gifts.

The names of the late General Pervez Musharraf and former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif, Shaukat Aziz, Mir Zafarullah Jamali, Yousaf Raza Gillani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif, and Shehbaz Sharif form the list. Apart from the premiers, the record of gifts received by federal ministers, senior officials and civil servants has also been made public.

Former President Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in their tenure are said to have violated the laws while buying the cars worth millions of rupees, and these cars were equipped with safety features besides being state of the art, but a mere one tenth or less of the total price was paid and these cars were whisked away.

Most of the low-value gifts were kept by the recipients without payment, according to the law.

Until 2022, the law required people to retain gifts worth less than Rs 10,000 without payment.Gifts ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 400,000 were allowed to be retained after paying 15 per cent of their value.Gifts valued over Rs 400,000 were allowed to be retained only by the president or the head of government.

The BMWs, Mercedes, and Lexus are now personal belongings, besides a long list that, at 466 pages, is still incomplete and covers only 21 years.

The trail, if evaluated on actual cost, will be worth billions, but all the fuss and chaos was created to tarnish former prime minister Imran Khan, who recorded all the gifts and paid not ten percent but fifty percent and changed the rule, which was abused by his predecessors.

It is a fact that heads of state exchange gifts, but the prevailing law leaves a lot to be desired, and figures are deliberately fudged. These ‘state gifts’ ended up in personal households, and when the former prime minister changed the law from 10 to 50 percent, a barrage of allegations was made against him. This eye-opener for the public has shown all the true colours of the powerful elite who rule Pakistan on the pretext of ‘serving the nation’.

A thorough probe needs to be made as Imran Khan disclosed all the presents but was it the case with the others?

Indian Premier Narendra Modi’s example in dealing with these state gifts should serve as food for thought for our ‘ruling elite,” as his orders in auctioning all the presents and money from the proceeds are spent in building schools.

Laws in Pakistan need to be changed, as leaders here should not be made a laughing stock in the world.

The writer is a journalist based in Islamabad and writes on a wide range of issues.