‘Thomas Crown Affair’: Painting goes missing from NA Secretariat

Abstract work, “worth over a million rupees,” was swiped from a building with highest-level security in the...

ISLAMABAD:

The capital has its own real-life version of the ‘Thomas Crown Affair’ after a valuable painting was found missing from the National Assembly Secretariat.

While the painting may not quite be a 100-million-dollar Monet, the abstract work, which is “worth over a million rupees,” was swiped from a building with the highest-level security in the country, sources told The Express Tribune on Tuesday. The secretariat has multi layer security arrangements, including a state-of-the-art surveillance system, and falls in the capital’s “red zone” – a heavily fortified area.

The sources added that the missing painting was amongst the most valuable in the collection of the National Assembly Secretariat, and was hanging in the room of a senior bureaucrat. The painting was found missing when the room was being cleaned, they added.

“The involvement of a grade 20 senior officer is being considered,” the sources said, adding that it was too early to suspect anyone directly at the moment. The secretary of the National Assembly has ordered an inquiry into the matter, and the sergeant-at-arms, the security officer of the building, has been asked to investigate.

Further details on the matter will be provided as the investigation goes along.

The missing painting comes just weeks after the National Assembly Secretariat was in a celebratory mood. On September 24, the secretariat had, for the first time, put on display a photograph of Pakistan’s third deputy speaker of the National Assembly and only Christian to hold the office.

The picture of CE Gibbon, who had remained in office from August 12, 1955 to October 7, 1958, was missing from the gallery and was finally put up after it was dug up exploring the entire national archive.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2013.