LAHORE – The federal government was required to provide a Toshakhana record that was created before 2002 by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday.
The court heard a request for the Toshakhana record—a state treasury where state gifts are kept—beginning with the founding of Pakistan. The record was provided by the federal cabinet’s secretary.
As the federal government had not given him access to the record on state gifts, the Additional Attorney General (AAG) informed the court that the cabinet had declassified the document and would publish it on the internet.
The appellant contended that the government should instead provide a comprehensive record as the AAG presented the court decision ordering the government to declassify the record. Judge Asim Hafiz said that because the government had chosen to make the record available online this year, things required longer to complete.
The AAG said that the earlier data had not been made available online when Judge Asim Hafiz asked whether the government had any records going back farther than 2002. The court mandated that the record be provided by the government at the next hearing on March 13.
Before to this, the federal government sent the LHC information on Toshakhana presents that a senior official deemed “classified.”
The Toshakhana data had first been refused by the government, who said that doing so may harm Pakistan’s interests in its foreign ties.