LHC gives 'last opportunity' to Toshakhana head for submitting affidavit

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday gave one last opportunity to the Toshakhana (gift depository) chief to submit his affidavit and a comprehensive report of who all obtained gifts from the depository.

Justice Asim Hafeez heard a plea seeking direction from the concerned quarters to provide details of dignitaries, bureaucrats, and officials who had obtained gifts from Toshakhana since 1947.

The judge warned Toshakhana officials that contempt proceedings would be initiated if the affidavit of the relevant official was not submitted before the court by February 21.

As proceedings commenced, Justice Hafeez questioned where were the Toshakhana department chief and his affidavit. Another officer, representing the Toshakhana, parried the court’s query which irked the judge who then asked why contempt proceedings could not be initiated against the concerned officer.

The section officer told the court that they are pondering whether to make details of the Toshakhana gifts public.

The court has nothing to do with it, Justice Hafeez remarked, adding that the LHC had sought details of Toshakhana gifts along with the affidavit.

The petitioner’s counsel, advocate Azhar Siddique, argued that this was mala fide on part of the Toshakhana whose officers seemed reluctant in complying with the court orders.

Justice Hafeez expressing his displeasure gave one last opportunity to the head of the department for submitting details and the affidavit by the next date.

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Following this order, the petitioner sought information about all the gifts bought/withdrawn/taken away by the prime ministers and presidents of Pakistan from 1947 till date.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), the assessed value of the gift and the amount paid by the receivers (presidents and prime ministers) of the gifts from 1947 till date.

He submitted that the 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.

It’s imperative for the sake of justice and the 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.