RAWALPINDI: The Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Rawalpindi bench on Friday disposed of a petition filed by the family of nine-year-old Hania Ahmed, who was killed in a shootout in Chakwal last week, seeking the transfer of the case from local police to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The petition was filed by a Pakistani-origin Australian familyshot at during a robberyin Chakwal last week by Punjab’s Crime Control Department (CCD) after officials mistook it as belonging to the robbers. As a result, Hania died on the spot, and other family members sustained injuries.
On Friday, LHC Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan wrapped up the case after directing provincial authorities to ensure a completely fair, transparent and unbiased investigation, and to strictly proceed against the accused officials in accordance with the law.
During the proceedings, Punjab Additional Advocate General Imran Shaukat Rao formally informed the bench that a first information report (FIR) had already been registered against the delinquent officials, and departmental as well as legal actions were actively underway.
In their petition, the aggrieved family had expressed a complete lack of confidence in the local police’s ability to conduct an impartial inquiry.
Their counsel argued that because the CCD officials belonged to the police force itself, an internal investigation could suffer from institutional bias. The family had pleaded for the case to be handed over to an independent federal body, the FIA, to guarantee justice.
While disposing of the petition, the court reiterated that the provincial police must prove its institutional integrity by conducting a flawless, transparent probe.
Justice Khan emphasised that no leniency should be extended to the officials behind the tragic death of the innocent child, ensuring the law takes its course swiftly.
Yesterday, the Punjab police and the CCD hadadmittedthat the incident would neither be defended nor covered up under “any circumstances”.
They also described the shooting as a case of “criminal negligence”, saying that a CCD official’s lack of training had contributed to his inability to assess the situation correctly.
Family distances from petition
The family of nine-year-old Australian national Hania Ahmed who was tragically killed in a shootout occurred on Wednesday night in Chakwal city has distanced itself from a petition filed before the Lahore High Court seeking the transfer of the case to the Federal Investigation Agency from the Crime Control Department.
“We have nothing to do with that petition”, Retired Col Mohammad Khan the maternal grandfather of the deceased who is now pursuing the case told Dawn on Friday.
Dawn got a copy of the petition which showed that the petition was filed by Mohammad Nadeem a resident of Islamabad’s G-13 sector through his counsel Advocate Mian Asif Mehmood in the public interest under the article 199 of the Constitution of Pakistan.
“We neither know the petitioner nor his counsel,” Mr. Khan said and added that they hired the services of Advocate Ch. Jalil Ur Rehman of Chakwal Bar Association, a famous lawyer of criminal proceedings.
Talking to Dawn, Advocate Jalil Ur Rehman termed the petition “totally irrelevant and damaging to the main prosecution case.
Meanwhile, Afan Ahmed the elder brother of Hania Ahmed and their father Adeel Ahmed were discharged from the Benazir Bhutto Hospital on Thursday. “Although both father and son are recovering from the injuries but Afan would take a long time to be fully recovered as his hip bone fractured,” children’s maternal grandfather said. The family also requested the media persons and general public not to contact them as they needed time to recover from this trauma.
Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2026