PM House: Back to square one

ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister House is nowadays being used instead of the PM’s Office situated at the Constitutional Avenue. Earlier, it was officially announced that the PM House would be converted into a world class university.

According to official sources, all important meetings, including one-on-one interactions, of the prime minister are held in the PM House these days. However, cabinet meetings are being held in the PM Secretariat, also known as PM’s Office.

Premier’s key staff members, including secretary to the Prime Minister and Military Secretary also sit in the PM House, as has been the case before.

When approached by The News, Minister for information Dr Firdous Awan said that the government policy regarding the PM House will not change. She said that routine meetings are being held in the PM Secretariat but premier’s meetings with important foreign dignitaries are held in his office in the PM House.

The minister said that because of limited space in the PM Secretariat, important meetings are being held in the PM House. She disclosed that the PM’s office, situated in the House, will be retained even after it is converted into a university.

In the third week of December 2018, the authorities had announced to convert the palatial PM House into an international university- named Islamabad National University (INU).

While inaugurating the Islamabad National University at a two-day conference on “Emerging Challenges and Opportunities for Pakistan”, it was announced that the INU would be an autonomous entity and would function without any government intervention. Referring to the “House of Wisdom”, a major Abbasid academy set up by Khalifa Haroon-ur-Rashed, it was said, “It will take a start from a very good institution, maintain its progress and turn into a centre of excellence which will attract scholars from across the world to help solution to national and global problems.”

It was said that initially an institute of advanced studies would be established in the PM House that would later be turned into a full-fledge university. Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood had also confirmed to the media that an institute of advanced studies and research would be established at the PM House which would gradually lead to the establishment of a university.

In the past the ruling party had been referring to the palatial PM House, Governors and Chief Minister’s houses as the replica of colonial era, mere wastage of public money and exploitation of government resources by the political elite. Besides the PM House, it was also committed that the lavish Governors and Chief Ministers’ Houses would also be converted into public parks or for better use of the people. However, the situation remains unchanged except that selected lawns of some of the Governors’ houses were opened for some time.

To promote austerity and simplicity, the prime minister, however, opted not to stay in the PM’s official residence at the PM House and preferred living in his own house.

According to one source, the PM Secretariat is more vulnerable for prying and thus this could be one of the reasons’ for shifting to the PM House for official work and meetings. It is said that during the last PPP government, it was found that a foreign mission used to pry upon the federal cabinet meetings. The then interior minister Senator Rehman Malik had said a few years back that during his days as interior minister prying signals were detected in the cabinet room in the PM House. Malik, according to media reports, had added that since Pakistan lacked the capacity to block spying activity, certain windows were cemented up to block prying signals.