September 24, 2008	Wednesday	Ramazan 23, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Sept 23: Is the Prime Minister’s House up for hire? This intriguing question has arisen after the villa became the venue of two Iftar-dinners hosted by those who are not entitled to this state property but feel obliged to invite the rightful possessor, Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani.

First, it was the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (Erra) which hosted an Iftar-dinner on Thursday in honour of donors and NGO representatives for their “good work”.

Then came the famous Iftar-dinner hosted by National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza on Saturday after President Asif Ali Zardari’s maiden address to the joint sitting of the parliament.

The feast, which was originally fixed for the Parliament House, was afterwards shifted to the Prime Minister’s House.

Later, Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik gave a false impression that the event was to take place at the Marriott Hotel, but the venue was changed to the prime ministerial palace on the order of Mr Zardari and Mr Gilani.

However, the invitation cards issued by the speaker’s secretariat to the guests clearly mentioned the venue as Parliament House, which was later changed to “PM House”.

Marriott was struck by a suicide truck bombing the same evening, killed 53 people, including four foreigners. Czech Ambassador Ivo Zdarek was among the dead.The compulsion behind the selection of this well-secured venue is that the obvious guest is the prime minister himself, who has been advised by the security agencies to restrict his official activities to the Prime Minister’s House and Prime Minister’s Secretariat.

Earlier, President Zardari also used the Prime Minister’s House as his abode for about two months before his election to the highest office of the country. The arrangement was made reportedly because of threats to his life.