KARACHI: The Peoples Secretariat, which was once one of the busiest political venue of Karachi, as well of Sindh, where leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) used to hold important meetings and take crucial decisions is now a deserted place or just limited to celebrating birthdays and observing death anniversaries or Qura’n Khwanis. When you would walk towards the University Road from Saddar it will lead you to Islamia College roundabout, here is where Peoples Secretariat is situated on the right side . Before entering the premises it was expected that there would be high level security check and disciplined organizational atmosphere but there was nothing of this sort. There was no reception or security check-post at the main gate or inside the building but only two employees, who gave a very cold welcome to the new comer. The secretariat was established in 1967 in a bungalow of Sindhi Muslim Society which was taken on rent, where Pakistan Peoples Party’s founder chairman Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, accompanied with his comrades Mairaj Mohammad Khan, Tariq Aziz, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Dr Shamim Zainuddin and others, used to come, where national and international affairs were discussed and party policies would be made. “In 1973, the house was shifted to Shikarpur Colony, behind Islamia College. This house was purchased by Haji Qaism Abbas Patel, who gifted it to the party. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was ruling the country at the time and was too busy in his prime ministerial affairs. He could eventually make it to the house in December 1976 when the Government of Pakistan organized an International jurists Conference at the eve of 100th birthday anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah at Dawood Engineering College. The Jurists and Lawyers from all over the world participated in the conference. After the conference all the delegates walked to the shrine of Quaid-e-Azam to pay tribute to him, but Mr Bhutto moved to the Peoples Secretariat and mingled with the party workers there. The house was in worst condition at that time and Bhutto called upon Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi assigning him the duty for its revamping,” said a senior PPP worker, adding that the house was occupied by some unknown persons when General Zia-ul-Haq came into power and the party secretariat had to be shifted to the present bungalow purchased in 1994 in the name of party stalwart Taj Haider. Following the tragic hanging of MR Bhutto the house regained its lost glittery when Benazir Bhutto took hold of the party and the secretariat was managed in a way that it should be run. The PPP workers present in the house told Daily Times that Benazir Bhutto Shaheed treated the house as the epicenter of all party activities, including selection and nomination of the election candidates, the nominations for the elections from all across the country was decided here. After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the Peoples Secretariat never regained its past environment and glory again, as now the party’s affairs are controlled from elsewhere. Current In-charge of the house, Farid Ansari told Daily Times that Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari do not come here now because of security concerns, as “It is not secure as the Bilawal House.” “We have requested ourselves to our leadership not to come here due to the deteriorating law and order situation in the city and in addition the area where the house is situated is not safe at all,” Ansari said. On a query about activities and expenditures of the house, Ansari got a little infuriated but elaborated that each MPA of the party donates Rs 1000 per month ; and from this donation the expenditures and liabilities of the house are paid. He also informed this scribe that “We celebrate birthdays and death anniversaries, national holidays and other party events in the house.”