Top Pakistani leaders received luxury gifts from foreign dignitaries, records show

Pakistan’s top political leaders received a wide range of luxury gifts from foreign dignitaries and state officials during the final quarter of 2025, newly released government records show, highlighting the country’s system for recording and storing official gifts.

The Cabinet Division, which administers the Toshakhana – the government department responsible for managing state gifts – disclosed that President Arif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari were among the top recipients. The records cover the period from October to December 2025.

Other officials listed include First Lady, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Minister for IT Shiza Fatima, Minister for Energy Owais Laghari, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Cheema, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, and Federal Information Minister Atta Tarar. Presidential aides, the President’s military secretary, spokesperson, auditors, and senior bureaucrats also received gifts.

According to the Cabinet Division, the gifts deposited into the Toshakhana included wooden boxes, decorative plates, watches, perfumes, scarves, carpets, silverware, model replicas of the Kaaba and Masjid al-Haram, a Metro Bus model, swords, daggers and musical instruments.

President Zardari reportedly received wooden boxes, porcelain flower sets, ties, perfumes, mugs, decorative plates, and religious keepsakes including a rosary.

Prime Minister Sharif’s gifts included a Kaaba model, Metro Bus model, carpets, perfumes, watches, shirts and blankets.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari received scarves, a Rolex watch, perfumes, and luxury fabrics, while the First Lady received a Rolex watch, a Kashmiri shawl and perfumes.

The Cabinet Division is in the process of estimating the total value of the gifts. Unlike earlier disclosures, the identities of the gift-givers were not included in the recent records.

Pakistan has gradually made Toshakhana records public dating back to 2002, with earlier records from 1997 to 2001 also available.

Established in 1974, the Toshakhana – literally “treasure house” - manages gifts presented to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of state and foreign dignitaries as gestures of goodwill.

The department stores a wide variety of items, from bulletproof cars and gold-plated souvenirs to expensive paintings, watches, ornaments, rugs, and swords.

The disclosure comes amid heightened public attention to the Toshakhana following the sentencing of former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, in the Toshakhana-II case on Dec. 20, 2025.

The case involved the purchase of an expensive Bulgari jewellery set, gifted to Khan by a foreign dignitary in 2021, which prosecutors said was retained at a fraction of its market value.