June 28, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 12, 1428

ISLAMABAD, June 27: The People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) has expressed deep concern over the destruction of important records in the mysterious fire at the Service Branch of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) at the National Assembly building on Tuesday night.

“It is surprising that the only victim of any fire at the government building has to be government records. Moreover, a fire at the PAC office during non-working hours at a time when the country is bracing for elections raises many questions,” said Central Information Secretary of the PPP Sherry Rehman in a statement on Wednesday.

Ms Rehman said this was the second incident of fire at the Parliament House building as the same section of the National Assembly building had caught fire in 1994 burning important NA records. She said the findings of the inquiry commission constituted to investigate the fire had yet to be made public.

She said that the authorities concerned had been trying to cover the matter giving the usual excuse of “short circuit.”

It is said that an air conditioner inside a room caught fire, which spread to adjacent rooms. “How can an air conditioner be left on when the office staff was supposed to have left three hours earlier?” she questioned.

Ms Rehman said the PAC records held immense national importance as these were used as reference points in National Assembly debates. She said the fire damaged 10-year-old important records of the PAC, while the current regime had been running the country for eight years.