RAWALPINDI: There are no records of at least 89 of the suspects arrested following PTI’s protest last week, police claimed on Monday, saying that if they were to commit a crime anywhere in the country, there was no way to track them down.

At a press conference, Attock District Police Officer Dr Sardar Ghias Gul Khan disclosed that they had analysed the data of the 1,150 suspects apprehended in the wake of a law enforcement crackdown on PTI protesters. Of these, 89 were “ghosts” as their fingerprints or identities were not on any local database.

The entry of such elements into Pakistan — especially into Islamabad — was a matter of serious concern for everybody, he said, adding that the protesters provided an opportunity to these elements to enter the capital.

The DPO said that police were still trying to confirm their nationalities.

He claimed that these men were highly trained and heavily armed, adding that they would easily be able to tackle police commandos.

Talking about the battles between protesters and law enforcement on Attock’s Katti Pahari near the M-1 motorway, the DPO said that these people can “travel on mountains within 30 minutes”, calling them the “attack squad”.

He said that intense shelling, targeting the police, was carried out at the spot using tear gas shells imported from Brazil.

According to the police officer, this tear gas was four to five times more potent than the one available to law enforcers, adding that their level of expertise could be gauged from the hi-tech gadgets such as weapons, masks and shells being used by them.

During his interaction with the media, the DPO also showed photographs of protesters in bulletproof jackets, bearing arms and wearing masks. He said the protesters also used wireless communication systems and monitored police communications during their march.

He also accused protesters of throwing petrol or chemical bombs on police from the top of a hill in Attock, adding that one SP was critically injured while a constable was shot in the leg.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2024