Swat to have forensic lab

PESHAWAR,: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is extending financial and technical support to the provincial government for setting up a forensic science laboratory (FSL) in Malakand region at Swat with a cost of $0.75 million, which would be the second such laboratory in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

UNDP’s Country Director Marc-Andre Franche and chief technical specialist, rule of law project, Ms Sharmeela Rasool stated at a media interaction here on Thursday that for the FSL, Swat, 40 experts would be imparted training in Punjab Forensic Science Agency, which is the best in Asia, and 10 of them would be leaving for training next week.

The FSL is a component of the UNDP-funded ‘Strengthening Rule of Law in Malakand Project’ which has presently been underway in the districts of Malakand division, including Swat. Mr Franche stated that they had trained 25 female lawyers in getting law education as well as practicing in court. He stated that rule of law was a priority subject for the UNDP in Pakistan as it was mostly concerned with issues, including security and criminality.

“It is impossible to think about significant progress in other sectors, including education and health, unless you do not have respect for the rule of law,” he said.

He stated that they were focusing on Malakand division and had now been extending their activities to other districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including three districts in the South and in Haripur. He said that their primary focus was to strengthen judiciary and training of judges and lawyers so as to improve administration of justice.

He stated that as reviewing laws was a long-term project, they had started short- and medium-term work with the Peshawar High Court, which included projects such as the mobile courts. He said that they were also focusing informal justice system and had now been working on how best alternative dispute resolution could be used here.

The UNDP country director said that in Malakand they were working on developing model police stations and also helping the local police in preparation of new policy on community policing.

Ms Sharmeela stated that FSL was important as criminals usually got acquitted for want of evidence. “What we are going to do is to strengthen evidence collection through this FSL, which will be trained in examining narcotics, firearm, finger prints, questionable documents etc,” she said.

Prior to this, a media workshop was held on “ethics of reporting in law and justice sector” where media persons stated that the print and electronic media should strictly follow their respective codes of ethics.

TV anchor Qatrina Hussain urged the media persons that while reporting they should focus on objectivity and never become a party to the issue. She stated that it was mandatory that they should respect privacy of victims of sexual violence and should not disclose their identities.