Police killed 924 people in Punjab in 8 months

At least 924 people were killed by police in Pakistan's Punjab province in the eight months from April to December last year, the country's top human rights organization, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), has alleged in a report. Qatar-based media outlet Al Jazeera published this information.

The report said that the 'Crime Control Department' (CCD) was formed in Punjab in April 2025 to curb major and organized crime. HRCP claimed that 924 suspects have been killed in at least 670 so-called 'encounters' since the formation of this unit.

Allegation of a family from Bahawalpur

Five members of Zubayda Bibi's family were killed in Bahawalpur in southern Punjab in November last year. Zubayda alleged that armed members of the CCD raided their house and looted cash, mobile phones, gold ornaments, and her daughter's dowry money. They also abducted her sons.

Al Jazeera reported that within 24 hours of the abduction, Zubaydah's three sons—Imran, 25, Irfan, 23, and Adnan, 18,—and two sons-in-law were killed in separate "police encounters."

Zubaydah claimed that she had gone as far as Lahore to plead for her children's release. But the next morning, she received news of the deaths of five of them. She also alleged that the police threatened to withdraw the case if she filed a case in court.

Abdul Jabbar, the father of the victims, said that none of his sons had any criminal records; they were all married and working.

Allegations of ‘planned extrajudicial killings’

In an investigative report released, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said that the Punjab CCD is carrying out planned extrajudicial killings in violation of the law and the constitution on Tuesday (February 17).

The report also mentioned that the CCD was formed under Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif. She is the daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the niece of current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.