ISLAMABAD, Jan 15: A huge fire engulfed the 16-storey building of the Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat on Tuesday evening and gutted almost 14 floors.
The fire erupted in the record room of the interior ministry at the 16th floor around 6.30pm and spread down to the second floor till filing of this report at 1am Wednesday.
The building, which houses some important ministries, including interior, water and power, education, environment, and housing, agriculture and management, refreshed the memories of the New York’s World Trade Centre tragedy as smoke and fire were billowing from the whole building.
Pieces of windowpanes, steel pipes, files and burning papers were falling from the building like meteoroids. The heat from the building could be felt in a radius of 100 metres.
There was complete chaos as police had cordoned off all roads leading to Blue Area, resulting in several accidents on the Service Road.
About 15 fire-tenders and one firefighter of the CDA, and the armed forces got busy putting out the blazes but their efforts proved to be abortive as they had only one ladder to extinguish the inferno.
When the fire initially broke out on the 16th floor, the senior officials of the district administration tried to make hectic calls to the officials of the army aviation and the air force to secure support of helicopters in putting out the fire.
However, it was conveyed to the district administration by the authorities at Chaklala Airport that they did not have the helicopters which could be deputed for the purpose. Later, Dhamial Airbase was contacted, but no helicopters reached the site.
The In-charge of the 111 Brigade, Brig Shafqat, was contacted by the officials of the district administration to secure the help of the army authorities to douse the fire after having assessed the incapability of the fire-tenders to do an effective job.
Two contingents of army soldiers reached the site one hour after the fire broke out and reinforced the already present police force in cordoning off the building.
Municipal Administration Director Mustafain Kazmi, who was directing the fire fighting operation from close quarters under the directives of the chief commissioner, Mir Laiq Shah, deputed 20 firefighters inside the building to check the fire from spreading to other floors.
Responding to a question about the possible causes of the fire, SSP Nasir Khan Durrani said it was caused by short-circuiting and ruled out the possibility of sabotage.
However, the Director-General Crisis Management Cell of the Interior Ministry, Brig Javed Cheema, standing besides the SSP, said it was too early to jump to any conclusions, and advised to wait for the cause till the fire was put out and an investigation made to ascertain it.
According to sources in the interior ministry and the district administration, sensitive record of the arms licences issued over the years and information pertaining to some organisations was stored in the record room.
However, Chief Commissioner Mir Laiq Shah and Deputy Commissioner Tariq Mehmood Khan said the sensitive record was shifted to the main offices of the interior ministry in the secretariat about five to six months ago.
Later, a CDA official said all the government records of various ministries were destroyed and the building had to be razed to the ground.
PRESS NOTE: Islamabad deputy commissioner has issued the following press note about the incident:
“A fire broke out in the Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat at around 6.40pm on Tuesday. Immediately on receiving the news, necessary arrangements were made to control the situation and to maintain public order and to prevent any unfortunate accident as a result of the huge fire. “An emergency ‘control room’ is set up in the building of the Oil & Gas Development Corporation (OGDC), in close vicinity of the Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat, to monitor the situation and take necessary measures required.
“The duty magistrate will be on duty along with the necessary staff from different departments in the control room.
“The whole area will remain cordoned off tomorrow (Wednesday) and the traffic on Jinnah Avenue from Kulsoom Plaza Chowk to Shaheed-i-Millat Chowk, the Service Road and the Nazimuddin Road will be diverted on alternate routes for public convenience.
“The cause of the fire would be ascertained only after a thorough inquiry and search of the building. However, it is suspected that a short-circuit in electric lines or a leak in the gas heater could have sparked off the fire. There were no blasts in the building before or after the fire,” the press note said.
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