Islamabad: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has condemned the country’s Crime Control Department (CCD) in Punjab province for pursuing a deliberate policy of staged encounters resulting in extrajudicial killings that fundamentally undermines the rule of law and constitutional protections in the province.
Citing various media reports, the HRCP documented at least 670 CCD-led encounters over the course of eight months in 2025, resulting in the deaths of 924 suspects, with two police officers killed during the same period.
“The extreme casualty imbalance — averaging more than two fatal encounters daily — combined with the uniformity of operational patterns across districts, indicates an institutionalised practice rather than isolated incidents of misconduct. The fact-finding mission has therefore called for an urgent high-level judicial inquiry into these deaths,” the HRCP stated.
The organisation documented a pervasive climate of fear among victims’ families. One family reported pressure from police officials to bury the deceased immediately and claimed they were warned that other relatives could be killed if they pursued the case further. Such intimidation, it said, constitutes criminal conduct and represents a fundamental obstruction of justice.
“The practice of police encounters as a method of crime control has a long and troubling history in Pakistan. Successive provincial governments, especially in Punjab and Sindh, have defended such actions as necessary to combat crime, militancy or systemic inefficiencies within the criminal justice system,” the HRCP stated.
However, the organisation highlighted that Pakistani courts, civil society organisations and human rights bodies have repeatedly raised concerns regarding extrajudicial killings, the surrounding lack of accountability and violations of the right to life guaranteed under Article 9 of Pakistan’s Constitution.
As per the HRCP findings, “CCD operations fail to comply with the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, which require that lethal force be absolutely necessary and proportionate, and that violators be held accountable.
“The nearly uniform narrative in CCD press releases and first information reports — that the suspects fired first, that the police acted in self-defence and that those killed were necessarily ‘hardened’ criminals — appeared in virtually every case reviewed, suggesting orchestrated messaging rather than independent operational outcomes,” the rights body stressed.
The HRCP emphasised that sustainable public safety cannot be achieved through lethal shortcuts that bypass investigation, prosecution and judicial accountability.
Among other measures, the report called for an immediate province-wide moratorium on all encounter operations until comprehensive legal safeguards and independent oversight mechanisms are established.
“Without immediate corrective action — including the establishment of mandatory independent investigations, accountability for those responsible, and structural reforms to ensure compliance with constitutional and international human rights standards — the normalisation of state violence will permanently damage Pakistan’s legal system, its democratic institutions and its standing in the international community,” the HRCP noted.
(IANS)
