RAJA ABBAS IS SINDH’S NEW CHIEF SECRETARY

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has appointed Raja Mohammad Abbas as chief secretary of Sindh, says a press handout released by the Prime Minister Secretariat on Friday.

The post had been lying vacant for almost a year. In September 2010, Kamran Lashari was appointed to the top bureaucratic position in the province, but the government had to reverse its decision within days following Mr Lashari’s indictment by the Supreme Court for his alleged involvement in irregular construction in Islamabad.

Some attribute the delay in filling the position to the highs and lows in the relationship between the PPP and MQM and the appointment was made when the two parties appear to be settling down to a working relationship.

Raja Abbas, the federal secretary of housing and works, has worked in Sindh only for a few years which will make it a challenging assignment for him in a province plagued by target killings and serious law and order situation in Karachi.

“His only relevance to Karachi is the time which he spent with the Pakistan Navy before his induction into civil services and joining the district management group (DMG),” remarked one of his colleagues.

Not wishing to be named, he said the selection of Raja Abbas for the top job in Sindh had come as a surprise for many in the federal service. The prime minister should have sent one of his best officers to Sindh considering the magnitude of the crisis the province is facing, he said.

Mr.Abbas is known to be a close friend of Mr.Khushnood Lashari, the principal secretary to the prime minister. According to the official handout, the prime minister asked Raja Abbas to use all his ability to ensure good governance in the province.

MEHRAN BASE ATTACKERS WERE ‘FOREIGNERS’

KARACHI: The four militants killed in the PNS Mehran base during the May 22 terrorist attack were foreigners and were related to each other by blood.

A senior official said on Saturday that the Kahuta Research Laboratories (KRL) in Islamabad had been approached to trace ethnic origin of the four militants who had raided the PNS base.

“We have finally received the report that led to the fact that none of attackers was Pakistani,” said SSP Investigation East Niaz Ahmed Khosa. “The findings carried three key facts which suggested that the attackers were foreigners, belonged to the Eurasian region and were blood relatives.”

He said police investigators had approached the KRL after they were told that the laboratory had gene database of different ethnicities across the world. The additional input about family connections of raiders would add value to the findings, the SSP added.

The audacious attack on the Mehran base left 10 security personnel dead, 15 others wounded and two PC-3 Orion aircraft destroyed. It took more than 15 hours for commandos and security personnel to regain control of the facility.

Officials said the remains, including four legs and a damaged skull of the two raiders who had blown themselves up inside a building at the base, had been collected along with the bodies of two other militants after the forces regained control of the base.

“Medico-legal examination of the bodies and remains determined the age of two militants in early 20s and early 30s. The age of the other two could not be ascertained as we only got their remains that made the job a little difficult,” SSP Khosa said.

Investigators said the DNA test for tracing the ethnic origin of suspects had never been carried out before in any criminal or terrorism case in the country.

“The results will help resolve different theories swirling around the ethnic origin of the attackers. The investigations are now expected to move forward on these lines,” the SSP said.