PM of Pakistan announces auction of Toshakhana gifts

As per the case, the PTI Chief hid the "benefits he accrued from the national exchequer wilfully and intentionally", Dawn reported.

Islamabad: A few days after the verdict on the Toshakahana case, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced an auction of all the gifts kept in national treasure, ARY News reported.

According to the details, PM Sharif said that whatever money is generated from the Toshakhana gift will be used for the poor and helpless people.

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“I announce to auction all of the gifts worth millions or rupees at Toshakhana. But the whole the receipts will go nowhere else but the institutions of the orphan children whether they are welfare organizations, educational institutions or medical facilities,” he said.

“We will hand them over under a mechanism to support the orphans who are unable to face the challenges of life,” Pakistan’s prime minister said talking to a delegation of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), and Pakistan Broadcasters Association PBA), reported ARY News.

He also told the media representatives that the incumbent government inherited very tough economic conditions but the coalition parties did not imagine the severity of the situation.

Established in 1974, the Tosha­khana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division and stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries, according to ARY News.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan was awarded three years jail term and arrested in connection with Toshakhana criminal case.

An Islamabad trial court on Saturday (August 5) sentenced Khan, who was absent from the hearing, to three years in jail and imposed a fine of (PKR) 100,000 on him while hearing the ECP’s criminal complaint against the PTI chief for concealing details of Toshakhana gifts.

The court found Khan guilty of “corrupt practices” in the Toshakhana case.

As per the case, the PTI Chief hid the “benefits he accrued from the national exchequer wilfully and intentionally”, Dawn reported.

Notably, Imran Khan was arrested by Punjab police at his Lahore home in Zaman Park residence.

Following the conviction, Pakistan’s top election body on Tuesday disqualified the country’s former PM for five years following his conviction in the Toshakhana case last week, reported Dawn.