Pakistan parliament fights rats big enough to scare cats

Pakistan's parliament has a problem - and it is nothing to do with the politicians.

No, the problem besieging the building - terrifying new starters and turning its offices into overnight “marathon” tracks - is rats. Big ones.

The scale of the problem came to light after an official committee asked to see the records of meetings from 2008. When the records were collected, it was found most had been badly gnawed by rats.

“The rats on this floor are so huge that even cats might be afraid of them,” National Assembly spokesman Zafar Sultan admitted to the BBC.

The infestation is now so widespread that an annual budget of 1.2m rupees ($4,300; £3,300) has been dedicated to making Pakistan’s halls of power rat-free.

It seems most of the rats are located on the first floor - an area which not only houses the office of the senate opposition leader, but also hosts most of the political party meetings and standing committees.

It is also, perhaps crucially, the location of a food hall.

But the rats generally keep themselves out of sight - until, that is, people have departed for the day.

“When there are usually no people here in the evening, the rats run around in there like it’s a marathon,” a National Assembly official said.

“The staff posted there are now used to this, but if someone comes here for the first time, they get scared.”

Advertisements have now gone out in several Pakistan newspapers, in order to find a pest control company which can help officials deal with the rats.

So far, just two have shown any interest.