Casualty report: Ballistic, trace evidence sent for forensics

Samples also sent to check claims of ‘other’ gas being used; SSP among injured .

ISLAMABAD:

Ballistic evidence recovered from the bodies of two men that died amid violence on Constitutional Avenue has been sent for forensic analysis.

A piece of metal was recovered from the skull of Rafiullah, 26 who died on Sunday afternoon, said Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABU) Pims Vice-Chancellor (VC) Prof. Javed Akram.

Talking to The Express Tribune, he said that according to the initial postmortem reports, high velocity plastic and metallic projectiles of various sizes and shapes were retrieved from the bodies of the injured and dead.

He said the objects have been sent for forensic analysis to get detailed information.

Meanwhile, according to Dr Altaf Hussain, a senior Pims administration official, there are also claims from the protesters that the police are using chemicals other than teargas to disperse the crowd.

To check this claim, “The Pims administration has sent some items collected as evidence from the remains of two for chemical examination,” he said.

Meanwhile talking to The Express Tribune, a senior doctor at Polyclinic Hospital who wished not to be named said a metal slug had been retrieved from the wrist of PTI worker Zahid, 38.

He said a total of five rubber bullets had been retrieved from the injured that were brought to the hospital between Saturday night and the time this story was filed on Monday.

Injured pouring in to hospital

On the second consecutive day of clashes going on between the police and protesters from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) on Constitution Avenue, government hospitals continued to treat most of the injured.

Polyclinic Hospital alone received over 40 injured on Monday including newly-appointed Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Operations Asmatullah Junejo. The SSP had taken charge on Sunday and promised to lead his men from the front, which is exactly what he was doing when he was hit in the head.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Polyclinic spokesman Dr Tanveer Malik said SSP Junejo suffered a deep muscle injury on the back of his head. Due to the nature of the injury, he was later sent to Pims for a CT scan. At Pims, Dr Akram said his CT scan was clear. “He is stable but is being kept under observation in the intensive care unit (ICU),” he said.

Pims spokesperson Dr Ayesha Ishani said on Monday that the hospital had received 41 injured including the SSP.

“The majority were given treatment and discharged,” she said.

Injured

Saddam Hussain, 20, is among the injured admitted in the Pims emergency ward.

He is a PAT worker who has come along with his family of 11 from Lahore to participate in the march.

“I was shot in the leg during the Model Town clashes and now in Islamabad I have been it in my jaw,” he said while talking to The Express Tribune. He and his father work as carpenters and find it hard to make ends meet.

“Due to poverty I was unable to fulfill my dream of getting education therefore I strongly support PAT chief Tahirul Qadri who is fighting for the rights of poor people like us,” he said. He further claimed that the surgeon who operated on him had told him to purchase medicines from the open market as they were not available at the hospital.

Ghulam Sarwar, 40, is a daily wage labourer from Mandi Bahauddin. He had joined PAT last year.

“I was shot while fetching water for my party members who passed out because of the tear gas,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sajid Hussain, a lawyer and active PAT member, claimed that many of his party workers are missing. “We believe they have been either taken to police stations or shifted to other hospitals,” he said.

He said that according to Pims, they have registered 500 PAT workers, but the party believes the count should be over 1,000.

“Their families are searching for them but we have no clue where they have been taken,” he claimed.

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