The death of a suspect, allegedly during an exchange of fire with Punjab’s Crime Control Department (CCD), sparked questions from lawyers and journalists on Wednesday regarding extrajudicial killings and due process.
The CCD, established last year, has been criticised by human rights advocates and civil society members for a high number of casualties.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) alleged earlier this year that the CCD has adopted a “deliberate policy of staged police encounters leading to extrajudicial killings”. In response, the department termed the claims as unfounded and contrary to the department’s operational framework.
The suspect who was killed in the latest alleged encounter was accused of running over a 14-year-old boy, who worked for him, with his car in a private housing society in Multan. That incident also sparked anger among the public, with a police officer saying the teenager had been “subjected to barbarity”.
The CCD claimed that the suspect, identified as Tauqeer, had escaped from its custody after it was granted the man’s three-day physical remand. According to the department, he was found dead after an exchange of fire when its personnel attempted to stop two individuals riding a motorcycle on Bahawalpur’s Northern Bypass.
The alleged encounter came on the heels of another incident in Islamabad where the police claimed a suspect was killed when his accomplices opened fire on a police team transporting him.
Lawyers and journalists took to X to voice their concerns over the rule of law.
Advocate Nida Usman Chaudhry, founder of Women in Law, said extrajudicial killings were not the kind of justice people expected from the state, describing them as another example of the state failing its citizens.
“When we demand ‘justice’, what we mean is through the rules of fair investigation, fair trial and due process,” she said.
Journalist and writer Shabbir Dar said extrajudicial killings “exposed the failure of the criminal justice system that consumes billions in public funds but has lost the confidence of both the public and those in power”.
Former human rights minister Shireen Mazari also weighed in on the incident, asking in a post on X: “‘Out of control’ is the new control?”
A post from PML-N MPA Hina Parvez Butt, which was later deleted, prompted criticism as well.
“This is [Punjab Chief Minister] Maryam Nawaz sahiba’s government; justice is served immediately here,” wrote Butt, sharing screengrabs of a TV report regarding the Bahawalpur encounter.
Journalist Hasnaat Malik criticised Butt’s post, questioning the need to spend enormous amounts of funds on courts if justice was to be delivered in this manner.
“It would have been better if punishment was given after fulfilling all legal requirements,” he said.
Advocate Abdul Moiz Jaferii took aim at Butt, who heads the Punjab Women Protection Authority, for “celebrating” the suspect’s killing.
“This is not justice, it is vengeance. And an admission of guilt,” the lawyer said in a post on X.
Journalist Absa Komal termed “celebrating extrajudicial killings” as “legal and moral bankruptcy”.
“When the police themselves become judge and executioner, it is not the rule of law, but the law of the jungle,” the former DawnNews anchor said, sharing a post about both recent incidents.
Senior journalist Naimat Khan pointed out that a “lawmaker from the ruling party is celebrating an extrajudicial killing of an accused person who should have been tried in a court of law to deliver justice to the victim”.
“The extrajudicial killing of even a guilty person reflects a profound mistrust in the justice system and government and undermines the rule of law,” he stressed.
Journalist Maryam Nawaz Khan termed it a “total failure of the system”.
“When the state relies solely on CCD or police encounters, it’s an admission that our judicial system is dead,” she contended while commenting on Butt’s post.
TV anchor Nadia Mirza also questioned the characterisation of the killing as justice.
“Oh!! so now you are calling an extrajudicial killing JUSTICE. Strange … where are courts?” she said in a post on X.
Journalist Javeria Siddique highlighted that extrajudicial killings directly violated the rule of law, adding that a civilised society punished people through courts rather than “encounters, enforced disappearances or targeted eliminations”.
Shazia Nizamani, chairperson of the Sindh Women Lawyers Alliance, called for the suspect to have been tried in court, saying Punjab police should have produced him before a judge to face trial and sentencing.
“How is it possible that handcuffed suspects, surrounded by armed policemen, manage to escape in case after case?” she asked.