During a state visit, gifts are commonly presented between heads of state or officers holding constitutional responsibilities. Pakistan’s opposition parties accused Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday of selling gifts from foreign heads of state, including a $1 million watch.
Moreover, the gift depository (Toshakhana) rules state that the gifts remain the property of the state unless sold at an open auction. Rules allow officials to retain gifts with a market value of less than ₹10,000 without paying anything, The Express Tribune newspaper reports. “Imran Khan has sold the gifts he received from other countries,” PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz tweets in Urdu.
How can a person (Khan) be this insensitive, deaf, dumb and blind?”- Sharif
“Caliph Hazrat Omar (companion of Prophet Muhammad) was accountable for his shirt and robe. You (Imran Khan), on the other hand, looted foreign gifts from Toshakhana. You are talking of setting up a state of Madina? How can a person (Khan) be this insensitive, deaf, dumb, and blind?” asks the daughter of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
According to Maulana Fazlur Rehman, president of the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Prime Minister Khan has sold a valuable watch he acquired from a prince. “This is shameful,” he says. On Wednesday, Punjab President Rana Sanaullah spoke in a press conference. He claims Pakistan has been defamed. As a result of the suspected selling of gifts received by the premier from heads of state from other nations.
Dr. Shahbaz Gill is a special assistant to the Prime Minister for Political Communication. He had previously stated that the government was “keeping secrecy” about the details of gifts received by Prime Minister Khan from other heads of state. It is because releasing their lists and comparing them with those of other countries is inappropriate. Especially by Islamic countries with which Pakistan enjoys brotherly relations.”
“Usually PM Imran Khan deposits such gifts to the Toshakhana. However, if he desires to retain them with him, he has to pay an amount for it,” he had said. The Express Tribune, reports, the PTI government appeals the matter in Islamabad High Court. They are claiming the information of the prime minister’s gifts had been labeled as “secret.”