LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Thursday lifted the ban on recruitments in the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) and directed the officials concerned to forward him a summary in this regard at the earliest.
During his visit to the agency’s head office along with additional chief secretary (Home) and other high officials, the chief minister commended the PFSA’s performance and said the lab was playing an important role in criminal investigations.
“The role of this agency in the scientific investigation of crimes is recognised not only in the province but the entire country. PFSA is a state-of-the-art organisation which is playing a commendable role in the verification of crime-related evidence,” CM Buzdar said while presiding a meeting there.
He also inspected different sections of the agency and directed the earliest completion of Punjab Agriculture, Food and Drug Authority building. PFSA Director-General Dr Ashraf Tahir, on the occasion, briefed CM Buzdar about the working of the agency.
The chief minister directed the additional chief secretary that a separate case should be forwarded to increase the allowances of scientists and PFSA staff. “The government is with you and steps will be taken to address your genuine demands. There will be no dearth of resources and PFSA will be provided with every sort of cooperation,” he added.
The CM announced that scope of satellite centres of PFSA would be extended to the district level and said, “It is sanguine that different countries are also sending evidence to PFSA for examination. This shows their trust over the performance of the agency.”
Buzdar also directed the officials to pay special attention to the training of prosecutors and policemen to bring necessary improvements in the criminal justice system.
Earlier, Dr Ashraf Tahir informed the chief minister that labs of 14 forensic disciplines were working under PFSA while satellite stations had also been established in eight divisions of the province.
“As much as 458,361 cases have been forwarded to us and out of them, 446,581 case reports have been issued. Similarly, more than 16,000 officials of law enforcement agencies have been trained by PFSA,” he added.
