Islamabad’s Sindh House off limits

Nominees of President House and federal govt officials are the occupants.

KARACHI:

Sindh House in Islamabad, though maintained and run by the provincial government, is out of bounds for the officials and parliamentarians from Sindh. Most of its suites and rooms are occupied either by officials of the Presidency or other federal government departments.

The issue turned into a major complaint raised by the lawmakers during the Sindh Assembly session on Tuesday. Members participating in the debate expressed their annoyance over the permanent occupation of Sindh House by federal government officials.

There were 33 questions listed for question hour, which pertained to the works and services department. But only four questions could be taken up after MPAs came up with a large number of supplementary questions on the issue of Sindh House. Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah holds the portfolio of works and services and in his absence law minister, Ayaz Soomro, fielded to the questions. In a written reply, the works and services department maintained that the officials of the federal government were living at Sindh House on a permanent basis after having its rooms allotted on the recommendation of President House. The names of the officers were also presented before the Sindh Assembly. But when Ayaz Soomro was asked whether the government had any plans to have the rooms vacated, he immediately changed his statement and said, “No, these rooms were not occupied permanently - but the rooms were allotted to some officers through a set procedure.”

Sattar Rajpar of the ruling PPP, Khalid Ahmed of the MQM and other lawmakers complained that whenever the provincial assembly members went to Islamabad they were denied accommodation at Sindh House and the permanent excuse was: “All suites are already occupied.”

The law minister had no proper explanation and said, “You should contact the department concerned in the Sindh government before going there.” He added that 28 new rooms have been constructed.

In his supplementary question, Arif Jatoi of the National Peoples Party asked about the VIP suite in Islamabad’s Sindh House which, according to Jatoi, instead of being reserved for the speaker of the Sindh Assembly has been occupied by the chief security officer of President House.

The law minister said that it was not reserved for the Speaker, but the chief justice of the Sindh High Court, senior ministers of Sindh and others. He claimed that the suite was no more occupied by federal government officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2012.