KARCHI: Despite a lapse of approximately four months the DNA test report has not yet been received owing to which the culprit(s) who raped, tortured and almost killed a minor girl have not yet been caught, said Sindh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nisar Khuhro.

He was responding to the legislators` queries during the Question Hour that pertained to the home department in the Sindh Assembly`s Thursday session.

Mr Khuhro was respondingtothe questionsasSindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who holds the portfolio of the home department, was not in the assembly during Question Hour.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) legislator Kamran Akhtar inquired about the current status ofthe minor girl who is a resident of Ibrahim Haideri, a coastal fishing village.

Minister Khuhro said the minor, after being raped and tortured, was thrown in the Malir River near Bhitai Colony on Jan 19. The girl, he said, was still in trauma and hadnotyetrecovered.

He said that an FIR has been registered against unknown people and many suspects have been picked up by the police.

He said that the DNA samples had been collected and sent to the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, but the results were still awaited. Minister Khuhro said that investigation from different angles was being conducted and as soon as the DNA results arrived and if they matched with the suspect(s), prosecution would immediately be started. If not then the investigation would beintensified further.

Responding to a question by MQM legislator Naheed Begum regarding the amount spent on Sindh police between 2013 and 2017, the minister said that the amount had increased by over 50 per cent. Giving a year-wise breakup, he said that in 2012-13 over Rs51 billion had been spent; the next year over Rs56.5bn, and last year Rs62.6bn were spent. Over Rs77.9hn would be spent during the current year, he added.

To another of her questions, the minister said that out of the above budget, over Rs42bn which comes to more than 50 per cent would be spent on Karachi police during the current year.

Private security agencies Responding to a question by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional legisla-tor Nusrat Abbasi regarding private security agencies, the minister said that 265 private security agencies having over 69,000 guards of different sizes were registered in the province and the biggest one had over 3,700 guards while the smallest one had just seven.

Responding to a question by PTI`s Khurram Sherzaman regarding the training of private security guards and their uniforms, the minister said that all private security guards had to wear a uniform otherwise they could be mistaken as outlaws/terrorists by the police and general public.

The guards must also receive weapons` training.

The private security guards were allowed to carry nonprohibited bore arms only.

The minister, however, did not respond to MQM legislator retired Maj Qamar Rizvi who highlighted that though the various privatesecurity agencies were registered and given licences by the home department and had to meet the same criteria prescribed for other private agencies, their guards still carried automatic weapons.

The minister did not agree with MQM legislator Dilawar Qureshi who said the government had failed with over 265 private agencies operating in the province despite the presence of police and Rangers.

The minister responded that police, Rangers and private security agencies had been operating for long.

Also, he said, bodies in body bags, targeted killings, kidnapping for ransom, extortion etc were rampant long before the present government came to office.

Over the past couple of years, he added, the law and order situation had improved a lot and occurrence of such heinouscrimes had become rare.

The minister said that over Rs1.3bn were being spent on Karachi police specifically to further improve its functioning.

He said that out of this amount, Rs613 million were being spent on purchase of vehicles, Rs441m on procurement of arms and ammunition, Rs137m on construction of reception rooms at police stations, Rs86m on procurement of machinery, Rs50m on setting up of Madadgar 15 call centres, and Rs38m on armoured personnel carriers.

Written answer to a question regarding the amount spent on improvement of law and order in the province between the years 2008-12 said that over Rs4.3bn were spent in 2008; next year Rs4.8bn were spent; Rs5.6bn were spent in 2010-11 and Rs9.99bn were spent in 2011-12.