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HomeGo To PakistanThe Toshkhana declaration—Musharraf liked dinner sets, Nawaz Mercedes, Imran picked pens

The Toshkhana declaration—Musharraf liked dinner sets, Nawaz Mercedes, Imran picked pens

Toshakhana gifts came under the scanner when PM Shehbaz Sharif accused Imran Khan of selling gifts worth PKR 140 million during the latter’s prime ministership.

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A bullet proof BMW worth PKR 27.3 million and a Cartier wristwatch worth another million. A Rolex wristwatch, cufflinks worth PKR 3.8 million, and a Mercedes Benz car. These luxury items are gifts Pakistani leaders have received over the last two decades that became part of the Toshakhana repository –– now made public record by the government.

The 446-page document released by the Pakistan government shows that former President Asif Ali Zardari, ex-Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan, as well as current Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and President Arif Alvi are part of the long list of recipients who benefited from the Toshakhana. Most gifts were retained free of cost, shows the document.

“Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz retained hundreds of foreign gifts without paying a penny,” says the report.

Established in 1974, the Toshakhana is a department under the Cabinet Division that stores valuable gifts given to rulers and parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and other state-officials. Exchange of gifts between leaders of different countries is a common diplomatic practice. Although these gifts are usually considered the property of the State and are received by individuals on behalf of the country. As a result, they are stored in museums, vaults, State houses and are even auctioned off. As per the Toshakhana rules, it is mandatory that gifts of a certain value are deposited in Toshakhana. Officials are allowed to keep these gifts provided they pay a certain percentage of the price, which is determined by a committee.

Pakistani leaders do have the option of buying gifts. But most have paid menial sums when compared to the value of gifts they have kept. Zardari paid “a little over” PKR 4 million for a BMW worth PKR 27.3 million. Nawaz Sharif, who was given a Mercedes Benz car in 2008, paid a relatively paltry sum of PKR 0.636 million to keep it. The car was worth PKR 4.25 million. Sharif and his wife received at least 65 presents, and chose to keep most.

Former finance minister Miftah Ismail told Dawn it was evidence of the hold the elite have over the country, and that the Toshakhana only benefitted them. “The law should be enacted to stop individuals from retaining these gifts. Do whatever you want to do with them – retain them for exhibition halls, auction them to the public and give money to the state but stop individual purchases by the state functionaries,” he said.

Since the Toshakhana is legal, educationist and former caretaker chief minister Hassan Askari Rizvi raised the issue of ethics. “There should be a cut-off line (price wise) beyond which all gifts should go to the state. No one should be allowed to retain them, or, if one has to, he should pay 100pc price,” he told Dawn.


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What Imran got

In September of 2018, Imran Khan was found to have retained a number of luxury goods. A Graff wristwatch worth PKR 85 million, a pair of cufflinks worth PKR 5.6 million, a pen worth PKR 1.5 million, and a ring worth PKR 8.75 million. For all four of these items, Khan paid only PKR 20 million.

Last week, the controversy surrounding the Toshakhana erupted over the gifts sold and retained by Imran Khan, when the former PM failed to appear before an Islamabad court for the fourth time in a row, despite the court refusing to cancel the arrest warrant against him.

Khan has come under fire for buying expensive gifts and then selling them for profit. “Mera tohfa, meri marzi (my present, my choice),” the only Pakistani premier to be ousted through a no-confidence motion had said.

“I deposited a gift sent by a president at my residence. Whatever I took from Toshakhana is on record. I purchased the gifts after paying 50 per cent of the cost,” Khan was quoted as saying –– calling all corruption allegations regarding the Toshakhana “baseless”.

Toshakhana gifts were brought under the scanner last year, when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif alleged that Khan, during his tenure as Prime Minister, sold gifts worth PKR 140 million in Dubai.

There are also comments regarding the astonishing diversity and seeming randomness of gifts in the Toshakhana. For example, the late military dictator Pervez Musharraf seemed to have an affinity towards dinner sets. “Wondering why Pervez Musharraf acquired so many dinner sets from Toshakhana,” questioned Pakistan commentator Ayesha Siddiqa on Twitter.

(Edited by Anurag Chaubey)

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