Earlier, the PIC had directed the cabinet division to “provide the requested information about the gifts received by Prime Minister Imran Khan from foreign head of states, head of governments and other foreign dignitaries”…reports Asian Lite News.
The Pakistan government is reluctant to disclose the information pertaining to the gifts Prime Minister Imran Khan had received since he assumed power in 2018, local media reported.
The country’s cabinet division has challenged the Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) order seeking details of the gifts presented to Khan since August 2018, Dawn reported on Tuesday.
The cabinet division claimed that the PIC order was “illegal, without lawful authority”. It has filed a petition before the Islamabad High Court over the issue.
The government maintains that disclosure of any information related to Toshakhana jeopardises international ties, though a reference filed against the leadership of the two major opposition parties was based on the information shared by Toshakhana, reported Dawn.
Earlier, the PIC had directed the cabinet division to “provide the requested information about the gifts received by Prime Minister Imran Khan from foreign head of states, head of governments and other foreign dignitaries”.
The cabinet division did not accept the PIC request noting that the matter did not fall within the ambit of the Right of Access to Information Act, 2017. It also said that releasing the information related to Toshakhana could jeopardise international ties, according to Dawn.
However, the commission had clarified that when certified information about these gifts will be made public, Pakistani citizens will know that the gifts received on their behalf are being properly managed.
Drowning economy
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday slammed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government saying that the ruling party has drowned the country’s economy under debts.
He also lashed out at the Imran Khan government over the “unprecedented level” of inflation in the country and added that during its three-year tenure, it did not build a “single penny” project, Express Tribune reported.
“Five million people have been rendered unemployed by the incumbent government, it has become impossible for the poor to afford two square meals a day,” Shehbaz Sharif said while addressing a National Assembly session in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Sharif’s remarks come at a time when Pakistan’s financial debt continues to mount. The country’s total debt has gone up to Rs.149 trillion during three years under Imran Khan-led-Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government, according to an annual report released by the State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s vernacular media reported.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s public debt had increased by over eight per cent in 11 months of the fiscal year ended in June due to increased government borrowing to meet the spending requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic, The News International reported citing government data in the month of July.
After three years of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) forming the government in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan has failed to achieve what his party had promised to the people in its 2018 manifesto, local media reported. (ANI)
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