ISLAMABAD, March 30: Speaker National Assembly Dr Fahmida Mirza has asked the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to reclaim for her the speaker’s chamber in the Parliament House occupied by the presidency, according to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

PPP sources told Dawn on Sunday that she needed a bigger office to receive the delegations and dignitaries who visit her.

Dr Mirza is doing nothing new and only repeating history in seeking to reclaim the speaker’s chamber.

When the National Assembly began sitting in the present parliament building in May 1986, the speaker’s chamber was occupied by the then military ruler, President Gen Ziaul Haq, and the speaker was relegated to a smaller office.

Even after Gen Zia’s death in 1988, the succeeding civilian governments did not dare to undo the occupation for a long time.

It was in 1997 during Nawaz Sharif’s second government that former speaker Elahi Bakhsh Soomro requested the then President Rafiq Tarar to vacate the speaker’s chamber who obliged.

Mr Soomro was handed over the office in a ceremony held on the directives of the then president. The speaker remained the legitimate occupier of the chamber until former speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain ceded it for the use of President Pervez Musharraf sometime in 2005.

In the latest attempt to reclaim the chamber, speaker Dr Fahmida Mirza has directed the Capital Development Authority to ensure complete renovation of the parliament building as she had noticed “unsatisfactory” conditions in the building.

Carpets in the building, particularly in the corridors, have worn out and the furniture crumbling in many offices, including that of the speaker.

The CDA takes care of the main halls of the National Assembly and the Senate and is not much bothered about the poor condition of offices and committee meeting rooms, the PPP sources alleged.

A CDA officer however said the renovation of the parliament building required funds but requests made to the government for the same were not entertained by the finance division.