Sabotage attempt: Building housing important documents burnt down in Gilgit

Inquiry reports against influential officials were stored in this office.

GILGIT: Important documentary evidence and inquiry reports regarding several corruption cases were lost after unidentified persons burned down three offices of the government’s Buildings and Roads (B&R) department late Monday night in Gilgit, police and other sources said.

The incident occurred sometime after midnight on Monday as unidentified men torched the building and fled in the dark, police said.

They added that a case has been registered and investigations launched. At least three offices were burnt in the course of the events.

According to other sources, a number of documents and inquiry reports compiled by authorities against some influential officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) were stored in the offices of the building.

In view of public hue and cry in the recent months, Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Mehdi Shah had ordered an inquiry into a number of PWD scams, involving millions of rupees. The chief minister had suspended some senior PWD officials and transferred others to different districts of the region.

The police said that an official of the B&R department, Basharat, registered a case with the police station against the unidentified arsonists. “We are investigating the cases and will soon get to those behind this crime,” police said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2010.