PAKISTAN is replete with countless hardliners propagating and projecting their own brand of Islam through force and coercion.

These groups leave no stone unturned in brainwashing people: those who resist are killed. It is an irony that people are insecure even in mosques and prayer areas.

Islam never taught this. Suicide attacks are gaining momentum in hardliner ‘religious groups’. Although they have nothing to do with the spirit of Islam, they pose to be the flag-bearers of Islam.

Our National Database Registration Authority has touched many milestones in the recent past. DNA information should be entered in the CNIC of all people.

DNA is deoxyribonucleic acid, a self-replicating material which is present in nearly all living organisms as the main constituent of chromosomes. It is the carrier of genetic information. It helps in tracing people in the shortest possible time. It can be had even from a single hair or saliva.

A developed test could make checking DNA from the people detained for crimes with DNA samples from crime scenes stored in forensic databases almost as easy as matching fingerprints.

With the test the police could check on whether a person’s DNA matches at past crime scenes while suspects are still being processed and before a decision on whether to release them on bail.

Forensic relics and remains are often found on crime scenes, especially on suicide attack scenes, and can easily be matched. Hence, criminals can be identified by comparing DNA with Nadra’s database. It would help in checking, controlling and curbing crimes in minimum time.

Iftikhar Mirza

Islamabad