Prime Minister of Pakistan House
Prime Minister House is a palace located in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is the official residence of Prime Minister of Pakistan.
History
Prime Minister House was built during the reign of Muhammad Ayub Khan.In the 1990s, during the second term of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, her husband Asif Ali Zardari controversially ordered the development of a polo complex on 11.5 acres of protected woodland adjacent to the property. The project included a polo field, an exercise track, stables for 40 horses, accommodations for grooms, and a parking area for spectators. When senior official Mohammed Mehdi raised objections to the diversion of $1.3 million from public amenity budgets to fund the project, Zardari reportedly dismissed his concerns and later had Mehdi removed from his position, as stated in an affidavit filed by Mehdi with investigators.
From 1968 to 2018, the palace also served as the Secretariat of the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
In December 2018, it was proposed to convert the residence of the Prime Minister of Pakistan into a research university. In first phase, the Institute of Advanced Studies for the research would be established. However, no progress was made on it, and Imran Khan, the then Prime Minister who announced it was criticized for not fulfilling his promise.
Buildings
Prime Minister Office Wing
The Prime Minister's office wing, situated within the Prime Minister of Pakistan House, comprises the Prime Minister's office, which includes a designated meeting area for the PM to hold discussions with guests and ministers. The wing features galleries displaying portraits of Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan's first Prime Minister, and Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan. The wing also contains the office of the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, a waiting room for press meetings, a press media hall, conference rooms, guest rooms, banquet halls, and a cabinet meeting room.Nawaz Sharif was the first to occupy the Prime Minister's office in the early 1990s, followed by Benazir Bhutto. After the removal of Nawaz Sharif's government by Pervaiz Musharraf, the office was used as Musharraf's camp house, although he primarily resided at the GHQ. The office was subsequently used by Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Shaukat Aziz, Shujaat Hussain, Yousuf Raza Gillani, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, and Nawaz Sharif. Malik Meraj Khalid and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, both former Prime Ministers, chose not to reside in the PM House and used only the PM office during their tenures.