The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Thursday, 18 June 2026, expressed grave concern over a sharp and persistent rise in extrajudicial killings in Pakistan's Punjab province, documenting 808 police 'encounters' that have reportedly resulted in the deaths of at least 1,100 suspects since the formation of the Crime Control Department (CCD) Punjab in April 2025. The rights body warned that lethal force had become a routine — and normalised — instrument of crime control, operating outside any credible framework of due process.

Scale of the Killings

The HRCP stated it had previously cautioned the Punjab government that the CCD appeared to be systematically deploying lethal force as a tactic to 'control' crime rather than to enforce the law. In the roughly 14 months since the department's creation, the recorded toll stands at 808 encounters and a minimum of 1,100 deaths — a rate that critics argue amounts to a de facto policy of eliminating suspects rather than prosecuting them.

Death of a Nine-Year-Old Child

The commission specifically condemned the killing of a nine-year-old child, calling it emblematic of a broader breakdown in restraint. In a formal statement, the HRCP said: 'The fact that this normalisation of lethal force outside due process has directly resulted in the death of a nine-year-old child should be a call to conscience for the Punjab government. While the CCD has acknowledged that this incident was a violation of departmental rules, the incident cannot be treated as an isolated operational failure, nor can internal accountability substitute for independent oversight.' The body has called for an immediate independent judicial inquiry into the child's death.

Balochistan: A Parallel Pattern

The concerns raised over Punjab come alongside fresh condemnation from the human rights organisation Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ), which strongly criticised the extrajudicial killing of Abdul Razzaq Baloch by Pakistan's Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on 12 June 2026 in Sibi district, Balochistan. According to the BVJ, Razzaq had been forcibly disappeared after being taken into custody earlier this year, only to later be identified among those killed in what authorities described as an armed encounter.

The BVJ stated: 'His case reflects a disturbing pattern in which people vanish for months and later appear among those killed in operations presented as armed encounters, without transparency, accountability, or access to legal protections.' Rights groups argue this pattern — enforced disappearance followed by a staged encounter — has become a recurring feature of security operations in Balochistan.

Wider Security Deterioration

Last month, the HRCP had already raised alarm over the sharp deterioration in security conditions across Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where residents are reportedly caught between enforced disappearances, targeted killings, and militant attacks. The commission also flagged the alleged abduction of the vice-chancellor, pro-vice chancellor, and two other employees of Gwadar University while travelling from Gwadar to Quetta in Mastung, raising questions about the state's capacity to secure major highways and protect civilians.

Taken together, the documented incidents across Punjab, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa point to a systemic challenge to rule-of-law standards in Pakistan — one that rights bodies argue demands independent judicial oversight rather than internal departmental review.