Serious questions raised on effectiveness of criminal justice system in Pakistan

Islamabad, May 1 (IANS) The killing of nine suspects by Punjab province’s Crime Control Department in Lahore, Sahiwal and Toba Tek Singh follows a same pattern, where armed suspects allegedly open fire, police return it and suspects are found dead while accomplices escape into darkness. The almost same narrative in all incidents raises questions about the effectiveness of the criminal justice system in Pakistan, a report has stated.

These deaths occurred just months after a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) report accused the CCD of following a “deliberate policy of staged police encounters leading to extrajudicial killings.” At least 670 CCD-led encounters over eight months in 2025 led to the death of 924 suspects, according to an editorial in Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn. The recent deaths highlight the issues raised by the HRCP.

Six suspects died in separate operations in Lahore alone, with police mentioning accounts of armed resistance. Two men who had already escaped custody were intercepted and killed within hours in Sahiwal. An alleged drug dealer was shot dead at a checkpoint in Toba Tek Singh after allegedly opening fire.

“The pattern points to a culture of impunity in which lethal force has become the default response to crime. Such extrajudicial violence does not make citizens safer. It erodes the rule of law and public trust in institutions meant to protect them. When suspects are killed before they can face trial, justice is not served but circumvented,” the editorial in Dawn mentioned.

Last month, a lady health worker from Muzaffargarh city of Pakistan’s Punjab province requested country’s Chief Justice to conduct an independent probe into the killing of her two sons in an alleged police ‘encounter’ demonstrated the eroding trust of people in provincial authorities to deliver justice. Her statement about police torture and the subsequent killing of her sons in a “so-called encounter” is not an isolated case.

“It reflects a continuing pattern in which the once sporadic instances of police staging encounters to eliminate suspected criminals appear to have evolved into a systemic practice. Figures cited by the media and rights groups reinforce this concern,” Dawn editorial reflected.

“Estimates based on reported incidents indicate that hundreds of police encounters in recent months have resulted in a staggering number of deaths across Punjab. Rather than prompting action, these encounters have at times been praised by political authorities as an effective deterrent against crime. It signals not just tolerance of extrajudicial methods, but also a tacit endorsement of them as an official crime control policy,” it added.

The increase in encounters demonstrates failure of the criminal justice system in Pakistan. Police relying on eliminating instead of prosecuting suspects showcases that investigation, evidence-gathering and trial processes are either too weak or too inconvenient to pursue. Each citizen has a right to a fair trial under the constitution. However, when the state starts to decide who should get that right and who should not, it crosses a dangerous threshold. The acceptance of these killings brutalises society, undermines people’s trust and blurs the line between law enforcement and lawlessness, the Dawn editorial mentioned.

–IANS

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