Tag: arab rulers

  • IHC questions govt’s reluctance over disclosing details of gifts presented to PM Khan

    IHC questions govt’s reluctance over disclosing details of gifts presented to PM Khan

    The Islamabad High Court (IHC) questioned the government over its reluctant attitude to disclose details of the gifts presented to Prime Min­ister (PM) Imran Khan since his appointment in 2018, reports Dawn.

    Prior to this, the Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) had directed the Cabinet Division to “provide the requested information about the gifts received by PM Khan”.

    However, the Cabinet Division argued that the matter did not fall under the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017.

    “What is the harm in making it public if some country has given a necklace as a gift?” asked Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb. He said that gifts received by the rulers of a country belonged to the nation and not to them, asking whether public officeholders would even receive those gifts if the public office did not exist.

    Justice Aurangzeb asked: “Why doesn’t the government keep all the gifts in the museum? The government should make details of the gifts in the last 10 years public.”

    He also said that the Centre should inform how many gifts had their valuation done by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). The government representative at the hearing requested time to respond, after which the court adjourned the hearing.

    Earlier in September, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry revealed that Arab rulers who presented gifts to PM Khan “did not want their names to be made public”.

    Tosha­khana is a department established in1974 that stores precious gifts given to the rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials heads by the other governments and foreign dignitaries.

    According to Dawn, it has valuables ranging from bulletproof cars, gold-plated souvenirs, expensive paintings, watches, ornaments, rugs and swords.

  • ‘Arab rulers who presented gifts to PM Khan didn’t want their names to be made public’: Fawad

    Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry recently revealed that Arab rulers who presented gifts to the Prime Minister (PM) of Pakistan “did not want their names to be made public”.

    While speaking on Geo News programme ‘Jirga’ with senior journalist Saleem Safi on Sunday, Fawad stated, “Previously, the heads of the government were allowed to take gifts after paying 15 per cent of the actual price.”

    “Vehicles were considered personal gifts, but former president Asif Ali Zardari changed the law for personal interest,” he added while criticising the past governments.

    Talking about the local elections in the country, the minister admitted that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s biggest failure was “not holding local body elections” in Pakistan. Moreover, he said that the local bodies, formed by former Chief Minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif, were not effective and could not be restored on a technical basis.

    He added that PM insisted on having elections but members within the party, including Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar, didn’t agree to it.

    He further said that a review petition against the restoration of the local bodies is being heard in the Supreme Court (SC).

    Chaudhry said that the government has no personal rivalry with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) but the election body directly attacked the PM during the Senate polls.

    Furthermore, he revealed a total of 0.6 million Election Voting Machines (EVM) will be required for the upcoming general elections of 2023.

    Previously, the federal government denied giving out information about the exchange of gifts between the premier and other heads of state. They mentioned in a notice that the matter is reflective of inter-state relations and the disclosure of such information potentially damages the interest of Pakistan in the context of international relations.