Daily Times

The Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered the federal government on Monday to submit the records of Toshakhana gifts received by public office holders from foreign governments and dignitaries since 1947.

LHC judge Asim Hafeez heard the case in-chamber on application of a citizen, Muneer Ahmed, seeking the Toshakhana record from 1974.

Hearing the plea, Justice Hafeez ordered the federal government to submit the complete details, saying: “Present the [Toshakhana] records from before 2002 in court, no matter in which form they are.” “The court will pronounce the verdict after having a full review [of the Toshakhana records]. We will also see who were these gifts given by,” he said.

The LHC judge further noted that it was also necessary to review the aspect of “why these gifts are given”.

Here, the petitioner’s counsel asked: “If a minister is taking a gift, it is understandable but those who have public positions, how can they take gifts?” To that, Justice Hafeez replied that the court did not have jurisdiction over the matter and suggested that the petitioner approaches relevant forums for this purpose. The hearing was subsequently adjourned for half an hour and later resumed inside Justice Hafeez’s chamber. During the hearing, the attorney general said that the federal government had drafted a policy related to the Toshakhana. “A 466-page report on making Toshakhana records from 2002 to 2023 public has already been submitted in the court.”

The court then ordered the federal government to submit the minutes of the federal cabinet’s meetings on the Toshakhana matter by March 21 and adjourned the hearing.