Milestones: First DNA testing lab of Sindh launched

Lab will help identify bodies, ascertain paternity disputes.

KARACHI: Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah inaugurated the forensic and molecular biology laboratory for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing and Institute of Bio-Medical Technology established by the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) at a ceremony held at CM House on Thursday.

This is the first DNA lab in Sindh that will help identify bodies and offenders in sexual assault cases and ascertain paternity disputes.

In their respective speeches, officials of the health department and the chief minister called it yet another milestone achieved to curb crime and ensure justice. "This new laboratory, with the help of law enforcement agencies, will solve difficult cases by getting the DNA reports within 72 hours instead of weeks or month as per previous practice," said Shah.

Recalling the deadly bombing on former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's homecoming rally in 2007, the chief minister said that the Pakistan Peoples Party officials ran from pillar to post in an attempt to get the DNA reports of their martyred workers to identify them. The samples were sent to Islamabad and Lahore, but many could not be identified that led to the burial of more than 40 people without getting identified, he lamented.

"During this incident, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had promised to establish the forensic lab in Sindh," he said. "We have fulfilled her dream." He explained that after coming to power, the PPP government assigned the task to the LUMHS, Jamshoro.

According to Shah, the lab will also help the judiciary by using biological specimen such as blood, semen, saliva, urine, hair, teeth and bone for DNA testing, in order to ascertain qualitative and quantitative analyses of the poisons in medico-legal cases.

Water talk

Meanwhile, the chief minister asked the Indus River System Authority to close the Chashma-Jhelum link canal as it was the flood canal and can be opened when the river has surplus water. He demanded of the federal government to implement the 1991 Water Accord in letter and in spirit.

"We will not compromise on the water issue," he said, adding that Sindh being in the lower riparian will get its due water share. The CM added that he had also written a letter to the federal government and will take up the issue in the upcoming Council of Common Interests meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24^th, 2015.