Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to auction all precious gifts placed at the state’s Toshakhana, depository, saying that the proceeds from their sales would be spent on welfare initiatives, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The prime minister said: “I announce to auction all of the gifts worth millions of rupees…receipts will go…[to] the institutions for the orphan children whether they are welfare organisations, educational institutions or medical facilities.”

“We will hand them over under a mechanism to support the orphans who are unable to face the challenges of life,” the prime minister said talking to a delegation of the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors, All Pakistan Newspapers Society, and Pakistan Broadcasters Association on Tuesday.

Yesterday, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah deposited the precious gifts he received during his recent visit to Iraq in Toshakhana.

He was presented a pistol and a cellphone as gifts by his counterpart from Iraq Abdul Amir al-Shammari.

Toshakhana gifts and their possession has been a topic of interest in Pakistan for a long time and the debate intensified as former PM Imran Khan was tried, convicted, and sent to jail for 3 years by a district and sessions court.

Reporter Awais Kiyani