ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretary Information Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday said the entire Toshakhana record would be made public soon, alleging that many precious foreign gifts were missing, including a gold-plated Kalashnikov rifle.
Speaking at a news conference, she said the whole record of the foreign gifts received by former prime minister Imran Khan and his senior ministers during foreign visits would be made public, so that the people got to know the facts.
Responding to PTI’s leader Fawad Chaudhry’s statement as to what was wrong in selling the watch gifted to former premier Imran Khan, she stated that the former prime minister received cufflinks, watches, and rings in foreign gifts and he was supposed to declare all those things.
She maintained that the total value of cufflinks, watches and rings was Rs140 million, but they only deposited Rs20 million. “And all these were then sold out for Rs180 million,” she said, adding that no law or morality allowed a sitting prime minister to sell out the gifts in the markets which he received as gifts from foreign heads of states and governments.
“But many things which were received by Imran Khan personally have not been declared as yet on the pretext of national interest…as per the record many other things are missing such as a gold-plated Kalashnikov rifle which will soon be recovered from Bani Gala – the residence of Imran Khan,” she further maintained.
She said the government was also setting up a “fact check” body to check the “lies” and the allegations being levelled by the PTI leaders, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was not pursuing the policy of revenge.
She also rejected the PTI leaders’ claims that the government was abandoning the Sehat Card, clarifying that the government was not going to stop any initiative aimed at giving relief to the masses. She further claimed that the Sehat Card was first initiated by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2014.
She said the government would also keep the Langar Khanay continue being run through private-public partnership. She added the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) which the PTI renamed as Ehsaas programme would be renamed as Benazir Income Support Programme with additional allocations from the initiative.
Marriyum also rejected PTI’s leader Fawad Chaudhry’s allegation about changing the FIA officials allegedly to influence cases against Sharif, adding that Director Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Lahore Zone-1 DIG Dr Muhammad Rizwan had gone on vacation during PTI government. She further stated that it was government’s propagative to make appointments.
She also stated that the country was being run according to the Constitution after sending the “mafias and cartels” back to their homes. “Now not a selected, but an elected Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif is the premier who was elected through a constitutional vote,” she added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022