Daily Times

Stealing a Watch. Damning evidence. Catch him. Arrest him. Open and shut case. De seat him. That is what we have been hearing for the last 10 months. The amount of focus on the Toshakhana case, in particular, the watches, that the ex-premier Imran Khan bought from it has been all-consuming. Hundreds of press conferences, daily talk shows, and obsessive analyses have made it a do-or-die case for PDM against the former prime minister. The Election Commission of Pakistan has already de-seated Imran Khan and has now passed on the case for trial and punishment to the court. They admit that the then-PM paid for the gifts. They admit that buying gifts according to the prevailing laws is permissible. They object that it was sold on profit and the profit was not shown in the ECP income tax declarations for the relevant year.

This stealing of the watch as they called it was elevated to almost a “blasphemous” status and their whole narrative to discredit Imran Khan depended on it. For the 13 parties, “Minus Imran” was the plot. For this plot to succeed, he must be removed. To remove him, this purchase and sale of the watch needed to be amplified to the level of illegality and corruption. For that to happen, laws needed to be “discovered” that enabled the ECP to disqualify him and then send the case for trial. That done, the push for the arrest of Imran Khan. The narrative may not have had substantive value but had a nuisance value to divert attention from the disastrous government performance and the blatant self-exoneration drive. Like most “made up” stories, toshakhana has now become a narrative that has become more than a nuisance value to the PDM itself. Toshakhana is not just about financial misdeeds but about the mindset of the politicians and public office holders as explained below:

Hundreds of press conferences, daily talk shows, and obsessive analyses have made it a do-or-die case for PDM against the former prime minister.

1. Gifts for State Not Officials- Toshakhana is a Persian word that means “Treasure house”. During the Mughal rule, the toshakhana was a place where princes stored gifts and emblems of honour that they received. Under British colonial rule, officials of the East India Company were not allowed to accept diplomatic gifts. When received, they would be deposited and later used for the exchange of gifts with other rulers. In Pakistan, the toshakhana is a government-owned department under the Cabinet division. The rules of having these gifts changed from time to time. From 10% of the estimated value to the present 50% of the value, these gifts have been grabbed by nearly every government official. The valuation of the gifts is also non-transparent. Imagine gifts worth a million rupees available for just half a million. The fact that every public officeholder is taking advantage of this heavily discounted sale of very high-priced items is a reflection of the money-mindedness of these people. Yes, they are legally and financially abiding by the rules, but then who makes the rules? They, themselves. Pakistani politics has been dominated by the dynastic ruling style and thus the mindset that gifts to the state are personal gifts to “royalty.” The most common gifts are watches. Rolex, Chopard and other designer watches are usually gifted by the Kings of the Middle East and are gleefully accepted and repurchased at nominal rates. Shaukat Aziz was the king of Gift grabbers as he got 31 watches and took them with him. Sharif’s family took 17 watches while Zardari took 11 watches. Of course, these are incomplete records as both parties were in government twice before 2002. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who proclaims to be simple and does not wear a watch, took seven watches and his three sons got their share of watches as well. The fact that bedsheets, pineapples etc were also taken by the likes of Khawaja Asif and Maryam Nawaz is a reflection of the mindset of “Maal e muft, dil e be reham” (Other’s money, merciless heart).

2. Hide, seek, Grab- If all this was legal, why was the record not made public? Nawaz Sharif, in his term, in 2015, made these gifts a secret act. That rule itself is malafide. Any state belonging especially given by one state to another as a gift is the public information domain. Why hide it? The rather lame excuse of it affecting international relations with other countries is invalid. The real reason is that a lot of rules were flouted too that needed to be kept away from the public eye. For example, megabuck gifts are designer cars. The problem is that cars are not allowed to be taken by government officials. Both Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari have committed that crime. In 2008 Nawaz Sharif retained a Mercedes Benz while Asif Zardari retained 2 BMWs and a Toyota Lexus in 2009. This means millions of rupees of theft and embezzlement. Maryam Nawaz also allegedly received and retained a BMW gifted by UAE in 2006 as reported by Arshad Sharif. These were questions raised to the information commission for years but no response was received. Now that the court has finally let the cat out of the bag, more and more will be discovered and analyzed resulting in revelations that may be uncomfortable for the present regime and its facilitators.

3. Penalizing the Embezzlers-The toshakhana case on Imran khan has opened up a can of worms. The government is in a catch-22 situation. They want to use this case to penalize Imran Khan and disqualify him with heavy penalties and punishment. However, by doing so they set a trend that may harm them. Nearly all of them have taken gifts from toshakhana in much greater numbers and value with little transparency. The precedent of declaration of the gifts set in Imran Khan’s case may make them eligible for heavy punishments. Very few of them have declared them in their asset declaration. If not, where are the gifts? Were they resold? If yes, where are the receipts? Many more such questions will dig more dirt into this taken-for-granted entitlement. The court is unhappy with the record provided by the Cabinet division and is going to push for more details.

Toshkhana’s treasure house status may change to a treasure hunt. That hunt may be initiated as per court order. The government has recently changed rules for Toshakhana in an attempt to taper down the horrific details of how this public treasure has been treated as private treasure. The new ‘Toshakhana Procedure for the Acceptance and Disposal of Gifts, 2023’, dated March 8, includes a fresh set of guidelines for ministries and divisions to adhere to. The most significant change in the rules, according to the memo, involves gifts that exceed $300, which straight away become the state’s property to be disposed of according to Toshakhana rules. This is a good step. It does not cancel the earlier violation. Even in the future success lies in the transparency and application of these rules across the board. Every trip of a public office holder and their gifts received should be made public on their return from the trip. That applies to bureaucrats, Army officers and the judiciary. Previously the mere mention of this was unthinkable. Last time this question was raised by Arshad Sharif the investigative journalist. His tweet on September 20th 2022 asked DGISPR can you tell us how many gifts did the then army chief General Bajwa receive from friendly countries and how much money he deposited against them in Toshkhana? A month later on 23rd October 2022, he was shot dead in Kenya. Was it intentional or accidental? His case is still unsolved and facts are still being twisted and made opaque. The problem is that the Toshakhana treasures are very precious and valuable, sometimes more valuable than the life of a human being.

The writer is a columnist, consultant, coach, and an analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail,com. She tweets at @AndleebAbbas