THE Crime Control Department (CCD) was created earlier this year in Punjab to fight serious crimes and bring dangerous criminals to justice. But instead of up-holding law and order, CCD has been making headlines for alleged misuse of power, fake cases and custodial killings.
In several reported incidents, CCD officials have arrested citizens without following proper legal procedure. Families are pressured to pay heavy bribes for their release. If they fail, police often report fake ‘encounters’, claiming the arrested person was a criminal who fired at police and was killed in return. This has become a pattern and a very dangerous one.
The practice of killing people in custody is not just illegal, it is inhuman. It violates Article 10-A of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to a fair trial. It also goes against the Custodial Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention and Punishment) Act, 2022, which declares any statement or confession obtained through torture to be inadmissible in court. Pakistan has also ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture, but such abuses continue unchecked.
The law must apply equally to all. If criminals exist, and they do, it is the duty of all law-enforcement agencies to bring them to justice, but that has to be done the legal way. Targeting innocent citizens and filing fake cases destroy public trust and create fear instead of safety.
CCD is in an urgent need of reforms. Its officials must be trained, monitored and held strictly accountable. Besides, no one should be allowed to kill in the name of justice. Let justice be done, but through the courts, not through guns.
Syed Rehman Hayder
Chiniot
Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2025
