KARACHI: The countrys first Centre for Digital Forensic Science and Technology was inaugurated at the University of Karachi on Tuesday. 
Sindh governor and the universitys chancellor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad, who inaugurated the centre, stressed on the importance of the field of forensic science in the county. He said the centre would provide technical training to law-enforcement agencies.
“The centre will be beneficial to both the law-enforcement agencies and the judiciary. It will play an important role in the criminal justice system by providing digital evidence,” he added.
He was speaking at the Dr AQ Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering Auditorium and later went to unveil the foundation stone of the centre located near the KU Bureau of Composition, Compilation and Translation.
“This centre will definitely be playing its role as one of the paving components of rule of law.I hope following the legacy of the University, this centre will foster and produce students of the highest intellectual potential, irrespective of social, religious and financial considerations. The dedicated, highly qualified, professional faculty members and digital forensic experts will play their due role for this paradigm shift and will bring a positive change in all aspects”, he said.
The governor said he realised that the financial position of the KU is not very sound. “Centre needs money for infrastructure and logistics, the purchase of quite expensive kits such as mobile forensic kits, computer forensic kits and others.”
He assured that he would talk to the federal and provincial governments as well as the private sector to come forward and assist the centre. He also lauded the efforts of Sardar Yasin Malik for providing financial aid for the centre.
The governor said the centre would be a beacon of light for a good future of Pakistani society which is already facing tremendous challenges at internal and external level. “I also hope the centre would promote and deliver the highest standards of education and research excellence and would meet the expectations of the public and government.”
KU vice chancellor Professor Dr Muhammad Qaiser said digital forensic science education and training is of prime importance for the development of the nation. “No country can progress until it keeps pace with the development and rapid progress of the technology. I remember when I discussed the formal proposal to establish such a centre with the chancellor. He immediately agreed and assured me all sort of support which university needed. In fact he was more enthusiastic for the establishment of the centre than I.”
He said that the centre would play an integral role in the criminal justice system by providing impartial scientific opinion based on digital evidence. He added that digital forensic investigation was divided into several sub-branches depending on the digital devices like computer forensics, network forensics, and mobile device forensics.
He announced that within a span of one year the scope of the Centre would be broadened, the other aspects would also be included such as finger printing, DNA sequencing as the facility is available at our centralised lab which would be linked with the centre.
The KU Dean Faculty of Management and Administrative Sciences, Professor Dr Khalid Iraqi, said the center would help in controlling the rate of crime and KU had the honour of setting up the first forensic science centre in the country.