ISLAMABAD: The chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), Tariq Malik, has said that Nadra has no mandate related to geo-fencing and DNA testing as these subjects pertain to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA).

Briefing the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting here on Thursday, he said criminal forensic standards were not the mandate of Nadra.

He was responding to a query related to attacks on journalists and social media activist Asad Ali Toor.

The Nadra chairman said that evidence for identification of culprits who entered Mr Toor’s premises and attacked him was weak. “The quality of forensic evidence, such as finger prints at various places and footage, to identify faces of suspects was not fit enough to be identified in Nadra’s system,” he added.

NA committee seeks report about cases against journalists

He was responding to the statement of SSP (Operations), Islamabad, Dr Syed Mustafa Tanvir, that the report relating to the attack on former chairman of Pemra (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) and senior journalist Absar Alam and Mr Toor has been forwarded to Nadra for geo-fencing, DNA matching, forensic report, etc.

The Nadra chairman also said that the record of Mr Toor from the police department was not cleared.

The chairman of the NA committee, Mian Javed Latif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, directed the secretary of the Ministry of Interior to discuss the matter with the FIA director general, inspector general of Islamabad Police, Nadra chairman and the PFSA authorities and submit a report to the NA standing committee in its next meeting.

The NA standing committee also directed the Ministry of Interior to collect details of FIRs and complaints lodged against journalists from all provinces and Islamabad and provide them to it in its next meeting.

The additional inspector general of Sindh Police (Special Branch) briefed the NA committee on the latest report of the joint investigation team (JIT) which was formed to investigate the murder of journalist Aziz Memon.

He said the JIT was constituted by the home department of Sindh under the additional IGP, Karachi region.

According to the report, he said, DNA tests of 88 suspects were conducted. DNA of one suspect, Nazeer son of Bangul Khan Sahito, matched the murdered journalist.

The NA committee meeting was attended by Engineer Usman Khan Tarakai, Nasir Khan Musa Zai, Tahir Iqbal, Mohammad Akram Cheema, Aftab Jehangir, Javaria Zafar Aheer, Syma Nadeem, Nadeem Abbas, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Maiza Hameed, Saad Wassem, Zulfiqar Ali Behan, Dr Nafisa Shah, Naz Baloch, and Uzma Riaz.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021