Whodunit: On guns and bullets used, claims and counterclaims abound

PAT workers say police used automatic rifles; police deny charge.

ISLAMABAD: Who fired bullets at the protest site is a question which has led to unending pointing of fingers at rival parties.

In the wake of the deaths of two men reportedly shot and killed, workers and supporters of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf claimed the police opened fire on protesters, which the police vehemently denied.

Manzoor Ahmed, a PAT worker and retired army official, claimed the police opened fire on the PAT workers and that he gathered eight bullets from Secretariat Chowk after the police was pushed back. “The police fired bullets on us and our workers were killed in the shooting.”

He claimed the bullets were from a G3 automatic rifle and he handed over three bullets to a senior army official with the hope that they would investigate. When asked to handover a bullet so that its calibre and associated guns could be independently verified, however, he said he could not as he had given all the bullets to the PAT leadership.

While commenting on the weapons being used by PAT workers, Ahmed said they were relying on marbles, sticks, stones and slingshots against the automatic weapons. “Marbles and stones are no match for bullets, but that’s all we have.”

Ahmed, also a former chairman of the Zakat and Ushr committee in Mian Channu, added that he had come to join the rally “to eradicate the corrupt system”. As an example of the injustice done to the people, he said that in his three-year tenure, he was given only Rs200,000 to distribute among poor people.

On the other hand, Additional Inspector General of Police Sabir Ahmed said no lethal weapons were issued to any policemen since their deployment in the capital, adding that even the guards of the inspector general of police were not allowed to carry guns in the Red Zone when they accompanied him there.

“Usually the guards of SPs carry guns, but under these circumstances, even the guards were not given any lethal weapon.” He said that only rubber bullets, teargas and baton were given to policemen to deal with the protesters.

A senior police official, who requested not to be named, said that the only people who carried guns at rally site were the 49 guards of Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan. The official revealed that Qadri was being protected by 34 armed men while Imran Khan had 15 armed guards.

In order to support his arguments, the official called a cameraman of a foreign media channel and asked him to show footage taken earlier in the day at the rally site in which the guards and their weapons are clearly visible.

Among claims and rebuttals, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences confirmed that two men who died on Sunday had sustained ‘bullet wounds’. He added that one victim was shot in the head while the other was shot in the abdomen.

PAT workers hold ‘armed’ man

Around 9pm, PAT Central President Raheeq Abbasi held an impromptu press conference in which a man who was allegedly caught with a loaded gun was present before the media. The PAT official said the man was cross-questioned but could not provide “an acceptable answer”. Abbasi later asked the police to come and arrest the man.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 2^nd, 2014.