Pakistan’s Punjab province is facing renewed scrutiny after the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) reported that a specialised police unit killed more than 900 people in about eight months during so-called “encounters” — a term commonly used for armed raids or shootouts with suspects.
Al Jazeera, citing the HRCP’s fact-finding report, said the deaths were linked to the Crime Control Department (CCD), formed to combat organised crime, and documented hundreds of operations between April and December 2025. The rights group raised concerns that the scale of killings cannot be explained solely as routine policing and questioned whether due process was followed in many cases.
Punjab police have repeatedly defended encounter operations as necessary against heavily armed criminal networks, arguing officers face lethal threats during raids. Human rights advocates, however, say the pattern points to possible extrajudicial killings and have called for independent oversight, transparent investigations, and accountability mechanisms.
The debate has intensified nationwide amid broader concerns over policing powers, rule of law, and safeguards for suspects’ rights.
