As Imran Khan faces the heat in the Toshakhana Reference case, investigations showed that not only the former prime minister of Pakistan but his predecessors like Nawaz Sharif, Pervez Musharraf and even former president Asif Ali Zardari retained some of those gifts free of cost.
India, like Pakistan, also has a Toshakhana (managed by the external affairs ministry) and what course of action should be taken in cases when ministers and Indian officials receive gifts from foreign dignitaries or when they are on a foreign visit are also similar to that of Pakistan, barring few changes.
The code of conduct states that gifts from foreign visits and foreign dignitaries are categorised in two categories, one, of symbolic nature and the other which are not of symbolic nature.
Gifts which are of symbolic nature, like a sword of honour, ceremonial robes etc. can be retained by the recipients.
The ones which are not of symbolic nature can be retained by the Minister if its value is less than Rs.5,000. If there are any doubts regarding the estimated value of the gift, the matter should be referred to the Toshakhana for valuation.
If the value is less than Rs.5,000 the gift will be returned to the Minister. If it exceeds the value, the recipient will have the option to purchase it from the Toshakhana by paying the difference between the value as assessed by the Toshakhana and Rs.5,000, according to a release by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Gifts of household goods like carpets, paintings, furniture etc. exceeding Rs.5,000/- in value becomes state property which remains in Rashtrapati Bhavan, Prime Minister’s House or Raj Bhavan.
Firstly, the Indian government has regularly shared details with the public regarding the value and nature of gifts Prime Minister Narendra Modi received from foreign dignitaries and during his foreign visits.
The nature and value of gifts received by PM Modi after he was elected Prime Minister has been made public by the Ministry of External Affairs since 2015.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan government only on Sunday made public the details of foreign gifts retained by public office holders — presidents, prime ministers, federal cabinet members, politicians, bureaucrats, retired generals, judges and journalists from 2002 to 2022.
The report by news agency Dawn says that Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari among others retained gifts by paying a “small amount” of money but the amount that they paid to retain those gifts raised eyebrows in Pakistan given the nation is going through an economic crisis.
India took a different direction when it came to gifts given to highly-placed officials.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to auction the gifts he received and the amount received from these auctions were used for the Namami Gange mission – a project undertaken by the government to rejuvenate river Ganga.
When PM Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, the gifts that he received were deposited and the funds were used in programmes focusing on female literacy. A total of 18,710 gifts worth Rs.19 crore were dedicated to those projects.
The last auction of gifts received by the PM Modi was held in September 2022 and 1,200 mementos and gift items were put on e-auction. Similar auctions were also held in 2019 and 2021.
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