LAHORE: Earlier this month, a fire broke out in Awami Markaz building in Islamabad’s red zone, in which record pertaining to CPEC and federal ombudsman was destroyed. 2 lives were lost in the incident as well. An inquiry commission, headed by Captain (retd) Ijaz Ahmad was formed to investigate the matter; however, it seems that little conclusive is going to come out of it.
In the last 2 decades, a tenfold increase has been seen in governmental buildings being set on fire in order to bury evidence of corruption. As a result, governmental documents worth millions have turned to ashes in these various incidents.
Various law enforcement agencies and organisations including NAB, FIA and Police have been unable to nab the culprits who have set these buildings on fire. The buildings that have been targeted in these incidents include LDA Plaza, civil court, Bait-ul-Mal, income tax, state office, revenue offices, Parliament House and high court. Several lives have also been lost in these incidents.
According to details, on November 9, 1993, a sudden fire erupted in the Parliament House, causing considerable damage to the building and some valuable documents of the Parliament, including evidence of corruption as perpetrated by important personalities. An inquiry committee was formed which settled the issue by saying that the fire was caused by a short circuit. Similarly, in July 2010, in China Chowk Shaheed-e-Millat Secretariat, a fire occurred on the 13th floor, and wasn’t put out until it destroyed the record placed in the basement. A great amount of precious documents were lost in this incident as well but it was termed a random occurrence and a silence was later observed on the issue.
Also on May 9, 2013, a fire which erupted in an LDA building burnt thousands of important files on the 8th and 9th floor, pertaining to corruption of various departments of the provincial government, and killed 25 people as well. It was only put out after 20 hours. The inquiry report held no official responsible and the matter was soon buried.
In 2016, with respect to fire in the record room of the Nandipur Power Plant, Federal Minister Khawaja Asif had said that the fire had been planned to destroy record of corruption in the use of oil in the plant; however, no culprit was indicted after the episode. A similar incident took place in the Bait-ul-Mal near Shimla Pahari, Lahore, where evidence pointing to corruption in welfare funds was erased. An incident of fire in a Multan district court, in which 150 year old documents were lost, was also ascertained to have been a result of a short circuit.
In these numerous incidents which have taken place in Sindh and Punjab, owing to the methods of the culprits, the security agencies have been unable to indict anyone.