The Aiwan-e-Sadr (), or Presidential Palace, is the

official residence An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of th ...

and workplace of the

president of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

. It is located in northeastern

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

Constitution Avenue Constitution Avenue is a major east–west street in the Northwest, Washington, D.C., northwest and Northeast, Washington, D.C., northeast quadrants of the city of Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was originally known as B Street, and ...

, between the

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Building and the Cabinet block of the

Pakistan Secretariat Pakistan Secretariat () serves as the headquarters for the Cabinet and Government of Pakistan. It is located on Red Zone in Islamabad, Capital Territory, Pakistan. Blocks * Block A: ** Ministry of Commerce & Textile Industry ** Ministry of ...

. Residences for the presidential staff, known as the President's Colony, are also located behind the presidency, adjacent to 4th Avenue. The administrative head of Aiwan-e-Sadr is the

principal secretary to the president of Pakistan The Principal Secretary to the President of Pakistan is the administrative head of Aiwan-e-Sadr. The position was considered to be very important until 2010; however, after the Eighteenth Amendment, the presidency was reduced to a mere ceremoni ...

, a position being held by Muhammad Shakeel Malik since December 2023.

History

Prior to Aiwan-e-Sadr's construction, the presidents of Pakistan lived in the Prince Palace located on the Mall in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, third-largest city in the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is a commercial and industrial hub, being the list of cities in P ...

. That building now houses the

Fatima Jinnah Women University Fatima Jinnah Women University () is a public university in the neighborhood of Mall Road of Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan, as well as in Old Presidency and Kachari Chowk. History Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) was founded on the initia ...

. The construction of the building commenced in 1970, and took 11 years to complete. President

Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (12 August 192417 August 1988) was a Pakistani military officer and statesman who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until Death of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, his death in an airplane crash in 1988. He also se ...

inaugurated it, but he lived instead in the Army House on Jhelum Road, Rawalpindi since he was also the

Chief of Army Staff Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

. Therefore, the first

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

to live there was

Ghulam Ishaq Khan Ghulam Ishaq Khan (20 January 1915 – 27 October 2006), commonly known by his initials GIK, was a Pakistani bureaucrat, politician and statesman who served as the seventh President of Pakistan from 1988 to 1993. He previously served as Chairm ...

, in 1988. Presidents

Farooq Leghari Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari (; 29 May 194020 October 2010) was a Pakistani politician who served as the eighth president of Pakistan from 14 November 1993 until resigning on 2 December 1997. He was the first Baloch to be elected as President. ...

Muhammad Rafiq Tarar Muhammad Rafiq Tarar (; ; 2 November 1929 – 7 March 2022) was a Pakistani politician and jurist who served as the ninth president of Pakistan from January 1998 until his resignation in June 2001, and prior to that as a senator from Punjab in 1 ...

Asif Ali Zardari Asif Ali Zardari (born 26 July 1955) is a Pakistani politician serving as the 14th president of Pakistan since 2024, having held the same office from 2008 to 2013. He is the president of Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians and was the ...

Mamnoon Hussain Mamnoon Hussain (; 23 December 1940 – 14 July 2021) was a Pakistani politician and industrialist who served as the 12th president of Pakistan from 2013 to 2018. He was first appointed Governor of Sindh in June 1999 by President Rafiq Tarar ...

, and

Arif Alvi Arif-ur-Rehman Alvi () is a Pakistani politician who served as the 13th President of Pakistan, in office from 2018 to 2024. He was a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from June 2013 to May 2018 and again from August to September 2018. ...

also used it as their official residence. President

Pervez Musharraf Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...

never lived in the palace, as he was also the army chief, and therefore lived in the Army House, which had by then shifted to the old Prime Minister House. Currently, President

, lives there.

Building complex

The building is built in a modern step pyramid architectural style. There are four main halls, each named after one of the

Founding Fathers of Pakistan The Founders and activists of the Pakistan Movement, also known as Founding Fathers of Pakistan (Urdu:بانیانِ پاکستان; Roman Urdu, ''Romanization lit''.:''bəŋɨaɪaɪ-e-Pəkɨstəŋ''), were the political leaders and statespersons ...

: Jinnah Hall, Liaquat Hall, Johar Hall, and Nishtar Hall. The adjacent gardens have been designed on the lines of the old

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

gardens, and contain fountains as well as a zoo. The zoo was opened in 2008, and once housed monkeys, deer,

nilgai The nilgai (''Boselaphus tragocamelus'') (, literally meaning "blue cow") is the largest antelope of Asia, and is ubiquitous across the northern Indian subcontinent. It is the sole member of the genus (biology), genus ''Boselaphus'', which was ...

, zebras, and

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera's native range is restricted to Eura ...

s. The current menagerie consists of

chinkara The chinkara (''Gazella bennettii''), also known as the Indian gazelle, is a gazelle species native to India, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Taxonomy The following six subspecies are considered valid: * Deccan chinkara (''G. b. bennettii'') ...

, deer,

urial The urial ( ; ''Ovis vignei''), also known as arkars, shapo, or shapu, is a wild sheep native to Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Taxonomy ''Ovis vignei'' was the scientific name proposed by Edward Bly ...

, pigeons, grey parrots, and pigeons, and pheasants. A stable, housing around a hundred horses, is also present nearby.

Green Presidency Initiative

After assuming office in 2018, President Alvi launched the Green Presidency Initiative to reduce the building's energy consumption, and to shift it to renewable energy. On 15 October 2022, the Aiwan-e-Sadr received the ISO 50001 EnMS certification, which made it the world's first green presidency. The savings from energy conservation and clean energy generation were reported to be equivalent to 3,154,750

kWh A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a common b ...

, reduction of 3,144 tonnes of

greenhouse gas Greenhouse gases (GHGs) are the gases in the atmosphere that raise the surface temperature of planets such as the Earth. Unlike other gases, greenhouse gases absorb the radiations that a planet emits, resulting in the greenhouse effect. T ...

es, or plantation of 142,909 mature trees. The building also received a GBC SEED Platinum certification from the Green Building Council due to its electricity requirements being fulfilled by a 1 MW

solar system The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

Public access

Aiwan-e-Sadr is usually out of bounds for the general public owing to its sensitive nature. However, in recent years, it has been opened for public twice – on 8 December 2018 and 1 January 2022.

References

{{Cultural heritage sites in Islamabad Capital Territory , state=expanded Buildings and structures in Islamabad Presidential residences Official residences in Pakistan Continuity of government in Pakistan Palaces in Pakistan 1981 establishments in Pakistan Government buildings completed in 1981

History

Building complex

Green Presidency Initiative

Public access

See also

References