Australia

Australian Prime Minister Calls for Probe Into Girl Shot by Pakistan Police

Is Pakistan's CCD a rogue force or a flawed but effective unit?

Published JUN 16

Australian Prime Minister Calls for Probe Into Girl Shot by Pakistan Police

Story

Above: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Noosa, Australia on June 5. Image credit: Dan Peled/Getty Images

The Facts

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for a transparent inquiry into the death of nine-year-old Hania Ahmed, an Australian-Pakistani girl fatally shot by police in Chakwal, Pakistan last Wednesday while on holiday with her family.
NDTV
Independent
The family — Adeel Ahmed, 39, his wife, Dr. Sidra Khan, and their two children — were intercepted by two armed robbers on a motorcycle while driving to a relative's home. Ahmed called emergency services, and the Crime Control Department (CCD) was dispatched.
DAWN
Times Now
When CCD officers arrived, the suspects fled and the family's rental car also drove off. Officers opened fire on the vehicle, mistaking it for the robbers' car, killing Hania and critically injuring her father and brother. Her mother was unharmed.
News.com.au
The Indian Express
Adeel Ahmed alleged that CCD personnel fired first, contradicting police claims that officers responded after suspects discharged a weapon. "CCD targeted our vehicle instead of the robbers," he said from Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi.
Independent
Pakistan Today
The CCD officer who fired was suspended, arrested on murder charges and remanded to judicial custody. A Joint Investigation Team was established, and the Punjab police acknowledged the shooting was "a grave deviation" from standard operating procedures.
SBS Language
The Daily Telegraph
Punjab Police Official on X
The CCD was founded last year with the intent of lowering crime in the province of 130 million. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has called for a judicial inquiry into the over 1,100 deaths that have occurred during CCD encounters.
Hindustan Times
NDTV

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Pakistan's Crime Control Department has turned extrajudicial killing into standard operating procedure, with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan documenting over 900 suspect deaths in under eight months. The near-identical wording across police reports screams of a cover-up.

The Daily Telegraph

Al Jazeera

Narrative B

Punjab's crime rate dropped 70% after the CCD was established, proving the force's strategy is working. The Chakwal shooting was a tragic mistake, but a formal Joint Investigation Team is already underway, and the officer responsible has been taken into custody.