No Major Fire Incidents in Public Offices During PTI Regime
In most such bizarre instances, the important government records are burnt to ashes
The mysterious fire incidents in the government offices across Pakistan have frequently occurred over the past few decades. In most such bizarre instances, the important government records are burnt to ashes which the people generally believe to be a tactic to hide corruption.
In a recent tweet, the Federal Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry claimed that a fire incident in a public building has not taken place ever since Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has come into power.
And interestingly, his assertion holds validity to some extent.
کیا وجہ ہے کہ جب سے پنجاب میں PTI کی حکومت آئ ہے کوئ ریکارڈ جلنے کا واقعہ نہیں ہوا؟ https://t.co/8mYDfoFDZB
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) April 5, 2021
Fire eruptions in Islamabad
The Parliament House in Islamabad has caught fire at least four times in history.
The first time fire broke out in Parliament House was in November 1993, the second time was in 2002, the third in June 2007, and the fourth in July 2015.
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In all incidents, a short circuit was termed the reason behind the blaze and in one of the incidents, the significant record of the Public Accounts Committee was burnt to ashes.
The last fire incident happened during the tenure of the PTI government on April 8, 2019 on the 6th floor of the Prime Minister’s Secretariat.
At the time, Prime Minister Imran Khan was chairing an important meeting on the 5th floor.
According to reports, the fire erupted due to a short circuit. However, the Prime Minister left his office safely and no casualties were reported.
When news of unexpected fire eruption was spread, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal tweeted and sarcastically asked, “Which record has burnt ???”
کونسا ریکارڈ جلایا گیا ہے؟؟؟😁 https://t.co/D2lZryit5N
— Ahsan Iqbal (@betterpakistan) April 8, 2019
There have been two fire incidents in the Shaheed-e-Millat Secretariat in Islamabad which has offices of important ministries.
The first conflagration occurred in 2002 while the second in 2018.
A fire broke out in Awami Markaz opposite Parliament House in September 2017 in which significant record of tax, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), federal ombudsperson, etc were burnt to ashes. Two people died while one sustained burn injuries in the incident.
Fire breakouts in Lahore
Lahore Development Authority (LDA) building had remained unfortunate as it caught fire twice in less than a decade.
The first time fire broke out was in June 2004 and another incident occurred in July 2013.
Important records of Metro Bus Service (MBS) and other projects were destroyed in it.
During PML-N’s tenure in 2017, the sensitive record of the infamous Model Town incident including of first information reports (FIRs), arms etc was incinerated in a mysterious fire eruption at Shah Faisal Town police station in Lahore.
Another incident in May 2018 in Lahore Railways Headquarters destroyed critical record of railways. The fire broke out at around 3 pm and continued until 5 pm.
Interestingly, the record in the cupboards was wiped out but the cupboards were only slightly damaged.
At the time of the incident, the audit of Railways was underway while a case pertaining to irregularities was also under adjudication in the Supreme Court (SC).
Sindh in the list
The megacity Karachi is also in a leading position in terms of fire incidents in government offices or buildings.
A fire erupted in Karachi’s city court in April 2018 in which the entire record was destroyed.
In another dubious incident on February 5 same year, a blaze broke out at Customs House in Karachi despite it was a public holiday and all offices in the building were closed.
Interestingly, Customs have recovered a huge cache of smuggled mobile phones and tablets worth millions of rupees. Two senior officials were reportedly pressurized to stop pursuing action.
Later, Customs Collector Shehnaz Maqbool and Customs DC Imran Rasool were transferred to rather inactive departments after notable recovery of smuggled items.
On February 24, 2018, a fire broke out at the Sindh Secretariat in Karachi which was even declared mysterious by the fire officer.
Upon reaching the site, the firefighters witnessed the building’s doors opened and a cluster of burning documents on almost every floor.
Another shocking thing for firefighters was that how the fire engulfed all six floors of the secretariat quickly.
National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) office in the Korangi area also caught fire the 40-year-old record was burnt to ashes.
In another baffling fire incident, fire erupted in the audit room of Guddu Thermal Power Plant in January this year in which significant record was incinerated.
