Punjab: Brutal cleansing

On February 17, 2026, a fact-finding report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) concluded that Punjab’s Crime Control Department (CCD) had adopted a deliberate policy of staged encounters that systematically involved extrajudicial killings. The report documented 670 encounters resulting in 924 deaths in just eight months between April and December 2025, while only two security personnel were killed during the same period. The extreme casualty imbalance in an average of more than two fatal encounters daily, combined with the uniformity of operational patterns across Districts, indicates institutionalized practice, rather than isolated incidents of misconduct.

By comparison, HRCP’s annual report for 2024 recorded 341 suspects killed in encounters across Punjab and Sindh combined over the entire year. CCD, operating in a single province, more than doubled that toll in less than eight months. The highest concentration of killings occurred in Lahore, with 139 encounters, followed by Faisalabad with 55 and Sheikhupura with 47. The largest category of suspects killed was those accused of dacoity (armed gang robbery), accounting for 366 deaths. Narcotics-related suspects accounted for 114 deaths, robbery suspects 138, and those accused in murder cases, 99.

The HRCP fact-finding mission concluded that these operations reflect systematic violations of Pakistan’s domestic laws and international human rights commitments. Under the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act 2022, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is required to investigate every custodial death under the supervision of the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR). However, HRCP found no evidence that this mandatory procedure was consistently followed in the cases it examined. In one petition reviewed, it was the court — not authorities — that directed the FIA to initiate an investigation. The mission also observed that magisterial inquiries required under Sections 174-176 of the Code of Criminal Procedure appeared not to have been conducted. The fact-finding mission has consequently called for an urgent high-level judicial inquiry into these deaths.

Established on February 26, 2025, CCD is a specialized unit of the Punjab Police. Initiated by Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz as part of the “Safe Punjab” vision, it operates as a parallel force alongside the regular Police and the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), to combat organized and heinous crimes. CCD is mandated to investigate serious offences including land grabbing, extortion, kidnapping for ransom, dacoity, and organized gang activities. It has the power to establish its own independent police stations, register First Information Reports (FIRs), and conduct autonomous investigations. The department is headed by an Additional Inspector General (Addl. IG), with its headquarters in Lahore. CCD is supported by an annual budget of approximately PKR 5.56 billion (2025) and a workforce of over 4,250 employees.

CCD was established at a time when organised crime had shot up in 2024. Organised crime in Punjab’s ten major cities reached alarming levels, with law enforcement facing significant challenges in apprehending dangerous suspects. Samaa TV reports of September 2, 2024, revealed that 960 persons, wanted for serious crimes including illegal occupation, extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and murder, were at large. Ten major cities in Punjab were under threat from organized criminal activities, with law enforcement facing significant challenges in apprehending dangerous suspects. The cities most affected included Rawalpindi, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur, and Faisalabad. These and other cities were put on high alert as law enforcement struggled to curb the rising tide of crime. Police reports indicated that criminals affiliated with 273 different gangs operated across the province. Bahawalpur had the highest number of active dangerous criminals, with 264 suspects evading arrest. In Dera Ghazi Khan, 134 suspects involved in serious crimes remained at large, while Faisalabad and Sahiwal had 53 and 55 dangerous suspects unaccounted for, respectively. Despite concerted efforts, the Police have managed to arrest only 491 out of 1,451 identified suspects, leaving 960 suspects, many of them considered highly dangerous, still on the run.

Soon after the establishment of the CCD, Punjab saw the elimination of a large number of criminals, and a decrease of 40 per cent in the serious crime rate. Daily Times quoting CCD statistics reported on August 9, 2025, that 815 suspects had been killed or injured during encounters with CCD during the preceding four months across Punjab. 480 were killed, while 335 criminals were injured during encounters. While Punjab reported 16,500 serious crimes before the establishment of CCD in March, with the start of CCD operations, serious crimes decreased to 10,100 in July. From March 2025 to July 2025, robbery and dacoity incidents decreased from 5,071 to 2,600. Murder cases decreased from 384 in March to 289 in July. Car theft incidents decreased from 7,900 to 5,378, and theft cases from 3,100 to 2,000 by the end of July 2025.

On December 6, 2025, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif claimed that the crime rate in the province had decreased by between 70 per cent and 80 per cent in 2025, as compared to 2024. While addressing a crowd in Gujranwala, the Chief Minister credited CCTV cameras, used to trace and track criminals, for bringing an overall reduction in crime in the province. “Because of this system, there has been an 80 per cent reduction in crime in Punjab, and there are many districts where not a single case is reported for several days. Punjab is now a safe place,” she claimed. Further, Maryam Nawaz Sharif repeatedly credited the CCD for the sharp reduction in crime. These claims, however, turned out to be false, and official crime statistics provided by the Punjab Police demonstrate. Crime data obtained by Geo News “Fact-Check”, comparing numbers from January 1 to December 31, 2024, with those from January 1 to December 29, 2025, shows that overall reported crime in Punjab declined by only 2 per cent. While certain categories did register significant reductions, others recorded increases. The maximum reduction was recorded in the category of gang rape, with a reduction of 44 per cent, compared to 2024, and dacoity with murder, down by 42 per cent. Other serious crimes, however, such as rape, registered a decreased of just 8.28 per cent, murder by 18.56 per cent, blind murder by 24.34 per cent, kidnap for ransom by 22.54 per cent, vehicle theft by 29 per cent, kidnapping of women for forced conversation and marriage 9.41 per cent.

Whatever the veracity of the claims on the decline in the crime rate, extra-judicial killings cannot be justified. Asad Jamal, a Lahore-based human rights lawyer who has long worked on encounter cases, noted that Maryam Nawaz had repeatedly claimed that crime in Punjab has been curtailed, suggesting that her position reflected a policy decision at the highest political level. He expressed scepticism about prospects for accountability. They seem to think that if the crime rate is lowered, Jamal told Al Jazeera, they are justified in resorting to ‘extrajudicial killings’ – instead of improving investigation techniques, better resources for law enforcement and improved intelligence.