Speaker Fehmida Mirza has asked the Presidency for return of Speaker's Chamber, above her second floor office, adjacent to the Assembly Hall, on the fourth floor of the Parliament building, this scribe learnt on Sunday.
The Chamber was built on the order of former president Ziaul Haq, after the Parliament (National Assembly and the Senate) was relocated from the State Bank Building to its present location on May 26, 1986.
President Ziaul Haq had a Chamber on the first floor of the State Bank Building where he would come off and on to receive guests as well as delegations of MNAs and Senators. However, at this new site he never used the new Chamber although he once came to inspect it when it was under construction.
When Speaker Ilahi Buksh Somroo succeeded Speaker Yousuf Raza Gilani he approached the former president Rafique Tarrar to gift the Chamber to him. An elaborate Milad Mehfil was held to mark the transfer of the Chamber to Speaker Illahi Buksh. The former speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain returned the four rooms to the Presidency.
The new Speaker Fehmida Mirza has now requested the Presidency to give her back the chamber, which has never been used by President Musharraf.