Punjab’s Crime Control Department (CCD) says a suspect from Multan was found dead after an exchange of fire near Bahawalpur. The death has prompted sharp questions from lawyers and journalists about extrajudicial killings, meaning deaths that take place outside any court process. Several critics said the suspect should have been tried in a court, not killed by police.
The CCD’s account and the case behind it
The suspect, identified as Tauqeer, was accused of running over a 14-year-old boy who worked for him with his car in a private housing society in Multan. The incident angered the public, and a police officer said the teenager had been “subjected to barbarity.” The CCD said Tauqeer had escaped its custody after it obtained a three-day physical remand, a period in which police hold a suspect for questioning. According to the department, its personnel later tried to stop two men riding a motorcycle on Bahawalpur’s Northern Bypass, and Tauqeer was found dead after an exchange of fire.
The alleged CCD encounter came shortly after a separate incident in Islamabad. Police there said a suspect was killed when his accomplices opened fire on the police team transporting him.
Rights groups and lawyers raise alarm
The CCD was set up last year and has faced criticism from human rights advocates and civil society members over the number of people killed in its operations. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) alleged earlier this year that the department follows a deliberate policy of staged police encounters that lead to extrajudicial killings. The CCD rejected those claims as unfounded and said they were contrary to its operational framework.
Advocate Nida Usman Chaudhry, founder of Women in Law, said extrajudicial killings were not the kind of justice people expect from the state. Barrister Rida Hossain argued that defending police encounters lets the executive act as judge, jury and executioner, and she pointed to HRCP’s casualty figures. Shazia Nizamani, chairperson of the Sindh Women Lawyers Alliance, asked how handcuffed suspects, surrounded by armed policemen, keep escaping.
Reaction to a lawmaker’s post
Hina Parvez Butt, a PML-N MPA who heads the Punjab Women Protection Authority, wrote on X that justice was served immediately under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s government. Her post, which shared screengrabs of a TV report on the Bahawalpur encounter, was later deleted but drew wide criticism. Advocate Abdul Moiz Jaferii called the celebration “vengeance” and an admission of guilt, while journalist Absa Komal described cheering extrajudicial killings as legal and moral bankruptcy.
Journalist Hasnaat Malik questioned why large sums should be spent on courts if justice was delivered this way. TV anchor Nadia Mirza asked where the courts were, and former human rights minister Shireen Mazari asked whether “out of control” had become the new control.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Punjab ki Crime Control Department (CCD) kehti hai ke Multan ka ek mulzim Bahawalpur ke qareeb muqable mein hilak ho gaya. Is maut par wakeelon aur sahafiyon ne sawal uthaye hain ke aisi halaakat ke baghair adalat mein muqadma kyun nahi chalaya gaya. Insaaf ka asal raasta adalat hai, is liye yeh bahas sab shehriyon ke haq se juri hai. Is case se pata chalta hai ke police aur adalat par bharosa kitna ahem hai.
