ISLAMABAD, June 02 (INP): National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) has claimed that State Minister Zartaj Gul’s sister, Shabnam Gul, was appointed as Counterterrorism body’s director on the basis of merit. In its clarification statement, NACTA said that it received a total of 12 requests from employees of different federal and provincial government departments working in BS 17 to 19 for posting in NACTA on deputation basis. A three-member committee interviewed the applicants on May 14 for vacant posts of assistant directors, deputy directors, and directors, and cases of six out of 12 candidates were recommended to be sent to Establishment Division, according to a statement issued by the NACTA. “Ms Shabnam Gul was one of the selected candidates. The committee recommended her purely on merit for posting against one of the vacant posts of directors as she is already working in BS-19,” it clarified. It added, “Shabnam Gul is a Ph.D. scholar with several papers on counter extremism and terrorism and found appropriate and relevant for research wing.” On Saturday, federal government appointed Zartaj Gul’s sister Shabnam as a director of NACTA. She was serving as an assistant professor at Lahore College for Women in Grade-18, however, all at once she was appointed as a director of the key counter-terrorism body of the country. Shabnam Gul’s picture has also been posted on the website of the NACTA. INP/LK/AJ