Classified documents are being destroyed by spy agencies in Pakistan to avoid their publication after the change of government.

"It's time for some of the intelligence agencies to fritter away their dirty work before the incoming masters wash the dirty linen they have collected, in public," a senior intelligence official revealed.

The senior official, associated with the Intelligence Bureau, told The News correspondent in a meeting that the IB was busy these days destroying the documents.

"In our late sittings, our men do this job to leave no evidence of what the bureau has been doing in the recent years," the source confided on condition of anonymity.

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In particular, telephonic tapes of different persons, including judges, lawyers, politicians, bureaucrats, journalists and even many of those who had ruled this country during the last eight years are being destroyed, the official claimed.

According to a source, it was not only the IB but also the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) that has been extensively involved in the bugging business.

The source said that some of the IB officials had secured the copies of the tapes of conversations by some high-profile politicians, which even included telephonic conversations of President Pervez Musharraf, the then prime minister Shaukat Aziz and almost every other player in the then government.

Some of these tapes are already in "limited circulation". A source revealed that a former top ruler was also in the habit of taping telephones of his residence and office.

Some officials, who have served in the Prime Minister Secretariat in the recent years, are also believed to have in their possession some of these "explosive" tapes.