ISLAMABAD: Nearly two weeks on from the death of two protesters, who were killed by gunfire on Constitution Avenue, police are no closer to establishing who shot the men and why were they carrying firearms in a peaceful demonstration.

On Saturday, August 30, when both Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri asked their followers to march on the Prime Minister’s House, Constitution Avenue erupted in clashes that lasted for nearly three days. Hundreds of people, including women and children, were injured in skirmishes between rioters and law enforcement agencies.

Scores of injured protesters brought to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and other hospitals in the capital presented with bullet wounds consistent with small arms fire. Many also had bullets lodged inside their bodies.

The bullet recovered from the body of one of the deceased men is consistent with a bullet from 30 or 32-bore handgun.

Two weeks after violent clashes, police yet to track down unidentified shooter(s)

But the government has vehemently denied the accusation that protesters were fired upon by police. Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Mujahid Sherdil and senior officials from Islamabad police insist that the officers on duty at Constitution Avenue were unarmed, save for their 12-bore rifles and shotguns loaded with rubber bullets (known colloquially as repeaters) and teargas launchers.

Investigators have so far drawn a blank in their search for the elusive assailants.

Even within police circles, it is generally accepted that no-one among them was armed and, even those that were, did not use their weapons at all that night.

Among police officers, the calibre of one’s weapon is dictated by one’s seniority. Good quality 9mm handguns are normally issued only to inspector-rank officers and above.

Sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors are issued 32-bore pistols, while constables and head constables carry sub-machine guns (SMGs). Police reserves, which were called in from places such as Punjab, Azad Kashmir and Railway police, were also armed with SMGs, even though their in charges did have 32-bore pistols. However, the reserves had surrendered their official weapons before deployment on Constitution Avenue.

Plainclothes personnel deputed to monitor the participants of the sit-ins from within have also verified that the protesters were not armed. No one, except for the personal guards of Dr Tahirul Qadri and Imran Khan, possess any weapons.

Dr Waseem Khawaja, former medico-legal officer (MLO) at Pims, told Dawn it was very difficult for doctors to accurately determine the calibre of bullets that had been pulled out of an individual’s body. Such bullets are often disfigured making visual confirmation of the calibre difficult. “In practice, MLOs refer such cases to ballistic experts,” he added.

Forensic specialists say that the only way to definitively match a bullet to a gun was to obtain the weapons of suspects and test-fire rounds from them.

However, the two leaders’ personal guards have not been requested to hand over their weapons for ballistics tests, nor are police likely to ask for them before the prevailing standoff ends.

Police say that “friendly fire” cannot be completely ruled out as a possibility until the guards’ weapons are tested. But plainclothesmen, in their reports, have said that these guards did not discharge their weapons on the night that the clashes began.

Published in Dawn, September 11th , 2014