KARACHI, Aug 22: Police efforts to determine the fate of persons missing since the Oct 18 attacks on Benazir Bhutto’s welcome procession have fallen prey to infighting among staff of the institution which was entrusted with the task of scientific matching of DNA profiles created from the remains of unidentified victims with members of aggrieved families.

A series of correspondence among the facility’s members suggests that it lost the samples before completing the job.

Though officials at the Dr A.Q. Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (KIBGE) denied this, documents concerning correspondence among members of the institute raised serious doubts about the authenticity of the results it had submitted to the law enforcers and the families concerned after more than a six-month process.

These suspicions, which emerged after a perusal of the acquired papers, further deepened when they were matched with the recent happenings, as first the institute management in April 2008 came up with a stand that the job assigned by the police authorities, tracing the missing persons of the tragedy, was too sensitive and it could not meet the desired results.

But, surprisingly after three months, in July 2008, it claimed to have established the fate of a couple of missing persons, who the KIBGE believed were among the 14 unclaimed bodies buried at the Garhi Khuda Bakhsh cemetery after months of the tragedy.

However, family members of Rizwan Awan, one of the missing persons, refuted the official claim after visiting the cemetery in Larkana the very next day. The 24-hour episode disappointed the family members of Rizwan, who were told by the authorities after a nine-month lethargic process of DNA profiling that he was among the 150 people who had died in the twin blasts.

”We were told that our blood samples had been matched with the DNA profiles created from the remains buried in grave No 18 in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh,” said Farooq Awan, an elder brother of Rizwan. “When the remains were exhumed from the grave, we were shocked to see that the poor victim -- aged between 50 and 60 years -- was clearly identifiable. There was no major damage to his torso.”

Alleging that the institution concerned tried to deceive the families of missing persons, he said the whole process of DNA profiling and then its matching with the blood samples was a fake exercise, aimed at satisfying the aggrieved families who were exposing the non-professional approach of the investigators.

Mr Awan’s concerns echoed in a letter written by a KIBGE officer in January 2008, when there was no news about the results of DNA profiles’ matching with the blood samples, complaining against one of the colleagues, who allegedly took away all the samples from the laboratory amid his ongoing tussle with the high-ups.

The letter citing the alleged staffer as “angry and rude”, said he gathered all the samples from the refrigerator and took them away. Another senior staff member confirmed that all the samples, including those related to the Oct 18 investigations, were preserved in the same refrigerator.

”When I told him that he could not take anything out of the laboratory, he got extremely angry and rude and said it was his responsibility and not that of the DG,” said the letter addressing the director-general of KIBGE.

As the tug of war among the officials was on, family members of the missing persons were eagerly waiting for the outcome, for which they had deposited blood samples thrice on requests of the police, who moved on the institute’s requests. Mr Awan said the happenings were fishy.

”The way we were asked for blood samples thrice during the nine months of investigations for a task which could have been done with a few drops, I was already suspecting that the things were not normal within the institute and the police department,” he said. However, every time the police asked for blood samples, he said, the law enforcers termed it a demand from the KIBGE to complete the assigned task.

As an inquiry into the particular incident, despite a written complaint by one of the senior staff members, was still awaited by the authorities concerned, the KIBGE at the University of Karachi suffered another break-in in April 2008, when chemicals and equipment from its premises were taken away.

When asked by Dawn to know his concerns about the heist, Dr Syed Irtifaq Ali, DG of the KIBGE, said he was unaware of the incident. Police record at the Mubina Town police station, however, had an FIR (89/2008) registered on a complaint of the outgoing DG, who alleged unnamed staff members of the institute of having broken in the main laboratory building and his office to take away chemicals and equipment with the help of locksmiths.

”The incident took place when I was not at the helm of affairs,” said Dr Ali when he was reached over the telephone. “The previous DG should be the best person for comments. I don’t know if such an incident happened during my tenure.”

However, Dr Ali’s ignorance about the matter could not justify a notice he issued days after the FIR (89/2008) registered by the Mubina Town police station under Section 381/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which defined: “theft by a clerk or servant of property in possession of master.”

The April 19 notice issued from the DG office showed concern over the security issues of the KIBGE citing an incident without referring to the registration of the FIR by the area police station.

”It has been brought to my notice that some of the chemicals/equipment are being illegally transferred from the labs of KIBGE to some unknown places. This constitutes a very serious matter. In view of this, stringent security measures are being taken to prevent this illegal transfer. All are requested to cooperate,” said the brief notice.

Surprisingly a couple of days before the FIR was lodged at the Mubina Town police station, a senior KIBGE officer saw his two colleagues transferring three polythene bags filled with “sampling canes, chemicals, consumables and other laboratory items” from the laboratory to their personal vehicles after office hours.

In the facts he put before the DG for an immediate inquiry through a letter, he named a couple of staff members who were allegedly involved in the act that went almost unnoticed.

”Later on it was brought to my knowledge that two unknown outsiders had changed the locks of the laboratory and offices after office hours. It is a matter of surprise that all these activities were done after office hours and the security officials were kept away during the incident. This seems to be a very unpleasant and serious matter and requires your immediate attention,” said the senior officer’s complaint letter to the DG.

”With this information, it is requested to take necessary action and constitute a high-level inquiry committee to investigate the affairs of laboratory samples, consumables and several other items along with the paper record from KIBGE and particularly after office hours, to unknown place.”

Infighting among the institute members, lobbying and incidents such as the theft inside the KIBGE, which was meant to undertake research work and offer service to the institutions concerned and individuals, could have emerged as a rude shock for the authorities and students keen to acquire scientific education.

However, it has dashed the faintest hopes of Rizwan’s family, which was heavily relying on the institute and its expertise to get any traces of their missing member.

”The whole matter is needed to be investigated,” said Mr Awan. “There is a criminal negligence on part of the people involved and we appeal to the government and the authorities concerned to ensure that such things do not happen in such an institution in the future.”