10 February 2004	Tuesday	18 Zilhaj 1424

KARACHI, Feb 9: The Chaghai monument in Bagh-i-Quaid-i-Azam, erected to commemorate the successful nuclear tests five years ago, was reduced to ashes on Monday morning.

The cause of fire which gutted the monument has not yet been ascertained as the police, city government and Karachi Electric Supply Corporation have all come out with differing versions over the issue.

According to the police, the fire started at around 10.10am and the entire monument, a fibre-and-chemical structure, was reduced to ashes within half an hour. Only the metal girders were left standing.

Two fire engines had been dispatched to the monument at around 10.15am, one from the Fire Department's headquarters and another from the Saddar Fire Station. These, after extinguishing the fire, returned to their bases at 11.20am.

Shoaib Siddiqui, a concerned official, said that since the monument was on a park managed by the city government, it should shoulder all the responsibility. He added that he could comment on the issue only after he received reports on the incident.

Fazal Memon, another city government official, claimed that the supply of electricity to the monument was disconnected more than a year ago. So there was no possibility of a short circuit.

Responding to Dawn's queries, a spokesperson for the KESC said connection to Bagh-i-Quaid-i-Azam had been allowed after a fitness certificate had been acquired from the electric engineer concerned.

The internal wiring and connections were the responsibility of the park administration, not the KESC. At the time of the incident the monument was very much connected to the KESC grid as it had never been disconnected.

The SHO of the Artillery Maidan police station, Zia Ahmad, said he went to the site immediately after the fire had started. The KESC people arrived at the scene in his presence to disconnect the monument, or what remained of it.

Some sources in the city government said the defunct KMC had spent about one million rupees on the monument. Pieces of the prefabricated "Chaghai" mountain, made up of fibreglass and other chemicals, were brought in from Islamabad and were erected on site.

The replica was inaugurated at a high profile function. Similar replicas were constructed in all the provincial capitals. Meanwhile, a policeman on condition of anonymity said people living in Hijrat Colony had been demanding for some time free entry into the park. An entry fee had been levied for the past many months.

However, the police personnel and their families living in the nearby police lines were exempt from paying the fee. Many people, especially youths, had objected to their free entry into the park and had demanded of the authorities to either exempt them from paying fee or charge from the police as well.

Some youths, most probably fed up with the entry fee, had set the monument on fire and fled. They were angry as there was no park or playground for them in the vicinity.

For them Bagh-i-Quaid-i-Azam was the only recreational area. The police official believed that the incident was not related to the issue of the country's nuclear scientists at all.