Reasons sought for not sharing Toshakhana gifts’ details
The Lahore High Court (LHC) has directed the quarters concerned to submit reasons for not sharing the details of the Toshakhana gifts since 1947.
Justice Asim Hafeez was hearing a plea seeking directions for quarters concerned to provide details of dignitaries, bureaucrats and officials who had obtained gifts from Toshakhana since 1947.
On Monday, Section Officer Nida Rehman appeared before the court contending that a committee had been constituted to determine the details that could be shared.
Justice Hafeez remarked that why the rest details were being hidden when everything had been made public, adding that reasons be submitted for not providing details by the next date.
Read LHC seeks details of Toshakhana gifts since 1947
In earlier proceedings, the law officer representing the federal government implored the court that the details of the gifts of Toshakhana were secret details which could not be provided.
Justice Hafeez remarked, “When any person buys a gift from Toshakhana, he/she has to mention it in the tax returns. So how could it be kept a secret when details are mentioned in the tax returns?”
However, Justice Hafeez directed the federal government's lawyer to submit details before the court by Jan 19 and then the “court will decide whether or not the details should be kept a secret”.
The petitioner's counsel Advocate Azhar Siddique implored the court that there were no details about those who had obtained gifts from the Toshakhana – under which mechanism the prices of gifts were determined and how much money was deposited in the national exchequer. He requested the court to direct the quarters concerned to make public all details of the gifts.
Petition
The petition was filed by Munir Ahmed through Senior Advocate Azhar Siddique.
Advocate Siddique implored in the petition that the Islamabad High Court on April 20, 2022 directed the cabinet to disclose all information and specifications in relation to all the gifts received by the former prime minister, Imran Khan, during his tenure.
Following this order, the petitioner sought information about all the gifts bought/withdrawn/taken away by the prime ministers and presidents of Pakistan from 1947 till date.
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Additionally, the petitioner also legitimately sought information with respect to the market value of the gift (prevalent at that time), assessed value of the gift and amount paid by the receivers (presidents and prime ministers) of the gifts from 1947 till date.
He submitted that petitioner believed that the exercise would ensure that the citizens had complete access to the entire record of Toshakhana which would aid the process of fairness, accountability and transparency.
Article 19-A of the Constitution reads: “Every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law.”
Article 19(A) of the Constitution has, thus, enabled every citizen to become independent power centres which, heretofore, have been in control of information on matters of public importance. All information that can be of any public importance must be made available to the general public.
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It’s imperative for the sake of justice and principle of fairness that information and details of all the gifts that had been received by the former presidents and prime ministers were unveiled as this was a matter of great public importance.
The citizens of this country possessed an inherent fundamental right to be privy to the entire record of Toshakhana as this would prevent anyone from misusing the privileges granted by Toshakhana, and safeguard the natural interests of the state by ensuring accountability in case of any mischief.
He implored that details of Toshakhana gifts received under the premiership of Imran had so far been disclosed by the Cabinet Division but to the extent of former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Yousaf Raza Gillani as well as ex-president Asif Zardari had never ever been disclosed by the Cabinet Division which was purely an act of mala fide.
Advocate Siddique apprised the court that the petitioner had issued letters to the president, PM, Cabinet Division secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Interior Division and the PIC chairman for provision of information.