More than one weapon used in Tasser’s assassination

Qadri surrendered after gunning down Taseer and handed over his assault rifle to his colleagues.

However,the nature of many of the wounds and the size of the exit wounds on Taseer¿s body were consistent with an attack with a smaller weapon,rather than an assault rifle,Pakistan Today newspaper reported.

The daily highlighted several other inconsistencies in the investigation into Taseer’s murder.

According to an autopsy report,there were 29 bullet wounds on Taseer’s body and 27 bullets were recovered from it.

Pakistan Today quoted experts as saying said the body of a victim shot 29 times at close range with an assault rifle would have been “completely mangled”.

While,Superintendents of Police Khurram Rashid,who is part of the investigating team,insisted that Taseer’s body was mangled,the daily said photos obtained from the murder site and from the operation theatre told a different story – Taseer’s “back and front torso,while wounded,were fairly intact.”

Video footage gathered from the murder site by news channels showed empty cartridges from two weapons – aTula-Tokarev-30 pistol and an assault rifle.

The pistol cartridges are smaller in size and look “distinctively different” from assault rifle cartridges,several security experts said.

When Qadri was arrested,he surrendered an assault rifle and was not carrying a pistol.

Photos of the murder site,available with Pakistan Today,also indicated a discrepancy in the number of injuries that Taseer sustained at Kohsar Market and those that showed up later in an autopsy report.

“This difference is absolutely inexplicable,” an unnamed senior Punjab Police official was quoted as saying.

This has given rise to speculation that the Governor might have been attacked again while being driven to hospital in a police van after Qadri shot him.

Investigators are yet to determine whether Qadri acted alone or was part of a wider conspiracy.

Police have accused two radical clerics from Rawalpindi of inciting Taseer to act against Taseer.

Qadri was also drummed out of the Special Branch several years ago after he was declared a “security risk” because of his extremist leanings.

Reports have said that Qadri had informed his colleagues about his intention to kill Taseer for opposing the blasphemy law.

Referring to speculation that more than one weapon was used in the assassination,an unnamed police official told Pakistan Today: “The investigation team should have checked the weapons of the other personnel on Taseer¿s security detail,as well as anyone else who accompanied him to the hospital.”

The investigation team should have also verified that the personnel in the security detail had returned all the ammunition that had been issued to them,the daily said.

Smaller weapons,like a pistol,are generally issued to “upper subordinates” like a thaanedar (SHO) and officials should have checked if officers of this rank were anywhere near Taseer on the day he was killed.

The fact that nothing of this sort was done,despite an obvious doubt that is raised by the nature of the wounds on the Governor’s body,is shocking.

The thoroughness of police investigations also depends on how closely the victim¿s family follows up on the case.

“In this instance,Taseer’s family did not seem too concerned,and the police simply wrapped the case up as soon as they could,” the report said.

Key pieces of evidence have either been overlooked or gone missing.

While the investigation team insisted otherwise,prosecution and defence lawyers verified that a chemical examination has not been conducted to determine whether the weapon surrendered by Qadri was the one used to shoot Taseer.

“A chemical examination was essential,especially in a case as high profile as this… Even if the investigation team has what is said to be the murder weapon,it is essential to establish legally,via a chemical examination,that the weapon was indeed the one – or that it was the only one – from which the bullets that killed the victim came from,” the senior Punjab Police official said.

There was also a inconsistency in the number of bullets reportedly fired by Qadri and the number of bullets that hit Taseer and a building and a car.

Qadri filled the magazine of his assault rifle with 30 bullets and emptied the magazine in 3.5 seconds,police officials said. However,more than 30 bullets were fired.

While there were 29 bullet wounds on the Taseer’s body,three more hit a car and the wall of a restaurant. Police officials were unable to explain this inconsistency.

CCTV footage from two shops in Kohsar Market,where Taseer was killed,has reportedly gone missing,sources told Pakistan Today.

On the evening of January 4,officials claiming to be from the Federal Investigation Agency visited the two outlets and confiscated CCTV tapes.

They left after threatening employees with “dire consequences” if they told anyone about the tapes.

The footage never reached the team that is investigating the murder and the second person with whom Taseer was having lunch is yet to be identified.

The “botched investigation and missing evidence” might allow Taseer’s assassin to get away with only around 14 years of imprisonment,with or without a fine,the report said.

Qadri’s lawyer Malik Waheed Anjum,president of the Rawalpindi Bar Association,said he had confessed to killing Taseer but had pleaded not guilty to murder.

This technicality that would allow the defence to bring in Section 302 C of the Pakistan Penal Code,rather than sections 302 A or 302 B,Anjum said.

The latter results in death sentences while Section 302 C carries a maximum sentence of up to 25 years in prison and most offenders are freed within 12 to 14 years.

“We are not contesting the fact that Qadri was involved in killing Taseer. We are,instead,handling the case on the basis of the quantum of the sentence… We will argue that Qadri was faced with mitigating circumstances.

“He had no previous relationship with the victim,he had no personal enmity with Taseer and he had nothing to gain from killing him,” Anjum said.

“As such,the crime was committed on the spur of a moment. This comes under Section 302 C of the PPC,and we expect him to get somewhere around 10 to 14 years in prison. We have also made preparations to appeal his sentence in the high court,as per Section 410 of the Criminal Procedure Code.”