ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif deposited more than three dozen gifts in the Toshakhana between July and September, including a box of 1,000 grammes of fine gold from Kyrgyzstan, according to a record released by the Cabinet Division.
The division said every gift the prime minister received on foreign visits had been deposited in the state repository and that their values were still being assessed, The News reported. The gold, presented during his official visit to Kyrgyzstan from August 31 to September 2, was deposited on September 8.
Carpets, clocks and olive oil
The rest of the prime minister’s list runs from handmade silk and wool carpets, shields and calligraphy to a model of the Roza-e-Rasool, a painting, a Belarusian glass decoration, a model of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, ceramic and bronze vases, olive oil, soaps and oud perfume, a model car, a large Kyrgyz blanket, prayer beads, six cups and saucers and a table clock.
President Asif Ali Zardari declared seven gifts, including two carpets, an archery set, a musical instrument, a framed picture of the Faisal Mosque and a chess set. Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Economic Affairs Minister Ahad Cheema, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi were among other cabinet members and officials whose gifts were also deposited.
New rules: auction everything
The disclosure follows the Toshakhana (Management and Regulation) Rules 2026, notified in September. Under them, all existing and future gifts in the Toshakhana are to be sold at open auction by the Cabinet Division, with proceeds placed in a separate account for girls’ primary education in the country’s most backward areas.
Any public office-holder, or private person travelling with an official delegation, must declare and deposit a gift within 30 days of receiving it or of returning from abroad, or within 60 days if it is shipped separately. Apart from the president and the prime minister, office-holders are discouraged from accepting gifts at all, and must deposit any they cannot decline for diplomatic or cultural reasons. The Toshakhana has been a flashpoint in Pakistani politics since former prime minister Imran Khan was convicted in a case over the sale of state gifts.
