RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD: Following an attack on Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) Head-
quarters, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) management decided to close the FBR House as a precautionary measure here on Monday.
The main gates of the FBR headquarters remained shut and there was no presence of army or rangers inside or outside of the FBR. Some officials and employees of FBR managed to reach the FBR House to perform their regular duties, but were instructed by the FBR Administration Wing to evacuate the building at 11-11:30am in the wake of the attack on PTV headquarters. Tax authorities including, FBR Chairman Tariq Bajwa, left the office due to a law and order situation on Constitution Avenue.
The office of Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO) located at Constitution Avenue remained closed due to ongoing law and order situation.
There was no police deployment on Islamabad Stock Exchange Towers housing offices of brokerage houses, ISE members and Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP). Routine buying and selling activity was witnessed on the ISE where market closed at 3:30 pm at the same time as the Karachi Stock Exchange and Lahore Stock Exchange did.
No police was deployed for the security of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) located at NIC Building, Blue Area, and the building’s own private security performed their routine duty throughout the day.
However, police, rangers and army have been deployed outside Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) office on Constitution Avenue. An official of ECP confirmed that the government has made some security arrangements for the staff and building of the ECP. He said that some staff of the ECP has been attending the office for three to four hours daily, adding a majority of the staff is doing office work at home.
Necessary security arrangements were seen outside the office of NADRA and Radio Pakistan after the attack on PTV HQ. Police and Rangers have been deputed along with private security for the protection of buildings of NADRA and Radio Pakistan.
It has been more than three weeks since the sit-ins started in the capital — first in Aabpara and on Kashmir Highway, and then in the Red Zone. Official work in government offices has almost come to a halt as employees are finding it difficult to get to work. Staff numbers in the Evacuee Trust building, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Information Technology were much less than on routine working days. The situation at Pak Secretariat was no different as most of the lower cadre staff come from Rawalpindi and those using public transport have to get off at stops near Lal Masjid in G-6 or Super Market in F-6 and walk the remaining five-odd kilometres.
