ISLAMABAD, Oct 8: Hours ahead of the rare in-camera meeting in which parliamentarians were briefed by army high-ups on the war on terror and militancy in Pakistan, the civil bureaucracy housed in Secretariat building was in the grip of a peculiar kind of uncertainty and haste.

The buildings of all the ministries located in various blocks were evacuated at around 3pm, two hours before the most discussed session that was on the lips of almost all and sundry in the federal capital amidst guessing of all sorts.

But a sort of panic also gripped the occupants of Secretariat when everyone started rushing out of various blocks at 2:45pm as if there was a bomb hoax.

“They will be installing cameras for the meeting. Let’s leave the building as soon as possible,” said a class-IV servant of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) who thought as if the word “in-camera” meant that the whole of the Parliament and Secretariat area would be monitored with cameras.

But to the utter surprise of many, this class-IV servant was behind a commissioner of Minfal who was almost running to his car after he was told that “they” have asked for evacuating the building.

“Who has asked us to evacuate the building? Security officials, police or who?” asked an additional secretary of another ministry. But no one knew who were “they” who wanted the Secretariat without any human presence two hours ahead of the session.

By the time officials of various ministries wanted to confirm the identity of those who had asked for evacuation of the building, people had already vanished from the area. Though the closing time of these ministries is 3pm, many officials and staff usually stay there till evening on normal days.

A water ministry official told Dawn that suicide bomb blast at Marriott on September 20, when President Asif Ali Zardari had addressed the parliament, had scared those working in the Secretariat a lot

Public transport including taxis could not be seen in the vicinity of the Secretariat since morning. There was high security all around as people could be seen seeking the guidance of traffic police to find their way in the labyrinth of Islamabad road system, which is plagued with repeated and unexpected closures of important points.