Trigger-happy policing: The cost of shortcut justice

https://arab.news/mzbp6

Nine-year-old Hania Ahmad had traveled from Australia to Pakistan for a family holiday. She should have returned home with joyful memories of time spent with relatives. Instead, her body is being sent back in a casket.

Her death in Chakwal on June 10, after police allegedly opened fire on a vehicle they suspected was linked to criminals, has shocked the nation. Initially, the incident did not receive the attention it deserved. Only as media interest grew beyond Pakistan’s borders did the case come into sharper focus.

The incident has sparked an urgent question: was this merely an error of judgment, or the predictable outcome of a policing culture that has become increasingly comfortable with force and increasingly indifferent to its consequences?

For years, Pakistan has witnessed the rise of what many call “encounter culture.” Quick results are applauded, and public frustration with crime often translates into support for aggressive policing. According to a February 2026 fact-finding report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, at least 924 suspects were killed in 670 police encounters conducted by Punjab’s Crime Control Department over an eight-month period. Only two police officers were killed during the same period. The HRCP concluded that such an extraordinary imbalance pointed to a pattern requiring serious scrutiny, not isolated misconduct.

A wrongful arrest can be corrected. A flawed investigation can be reopened. A mistaken conviction can sometimes be overturned. But a life taken in error cannot........

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