Fatal CCD shooting case takes a new turn

ISLAMABAD: The case surrounding the death of nine-year-old Australian-Pakistani girl Hania Ahmed in Chakwal during firing involving the Punjab Crime Control Department has taken a new turn after an audio message from her injured father, Adeel Ahmed, surfaced in which he questioned the police investigation and alleged that CCD personnel opened fire on his family’s vehicle.

Speaking from Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi, Adeel Ahmed said he lives in Perth, Australia, and had returned to Pakistan with his family on June 10 after performing Hajj. He said the family had gone to meet relatives when two robbers approached them outside a house and began a robbery. According to his account, the family was in the process of handing over valuables when gunfire broke out unexpectedly.

Adeel Ahmed alleged that four CCD personnel riding two motorcycles chased the family’s vehicle and fired heavily at it, while the robbers had not initially opened fire. He said the suspects fired only two shots before escaping after CCD personnel began shooting. He added that he was struck by two bullets, one of which remains lodged in his arm, while his 11-year-old son Afnan suffered two bullet injuries. He said Hania received three to four bullet wounds and died before she could be taken to hospital.

He further claimed that the firing was so intense that the vehicle’s brakes stopped working, but despite his injuries he managed to drive his family to hospital himself. Adeel Ahmed said the incident could have been avoided if CCD personnel had allowed the robbers to leave and then tracked them down later.

"CCD targeted our vehicle instead of the robbers. Had I not driven away, they would have killed all of us," he said in his message.

Adeel Ahmed said he was not seeking financial compensation, but wanted a fair and transparent inquiry so that similar incidents do not happen again. He said officials from the Australian High Commission had visited him and were expected to return. He also claimed that neither the federal nor the Punjab government had contacted the family, and said he would ask the Australian government to pursue justice on their behalf. He further alleged that Chakwal police were trying to shield CCD personnel.

CCD response

Meanwhile, Additional IG CCD Punjab Sohail Zafar Chatha visited the residence of the victim’s grandfather and spoke to the media, saying the department does not believe in extrajudicial killings and acts only against people involved in serious crimes. He said such suspects are often armed and have a history of firing at police, but added that the life of any citizen carries greater value than the arrest of two robbers.

Chatha said there had been three to four robbery incidents in Chakwal within a few hours on the day of the shooting, which had put CCD on alert. At the same time, he acknowledged that a better course of action would have been to follow the suspects and arrest them later. According to him, the robbers involved in the case had come from Sheikhupura and were later killed in a CCD operation.

Describing Hania Ahmed’s death as a deeply tragic incident, Chatha said the department stood with the affected family. He said the credibility of the investigation would depend on whether both the family and the wider public were satisfied with it. He added that the department now had a chance to address its weaknesses after the girl’s death, and said training methods would be reviewed while stricter standard operating procedures would be introduced to help prevent similar incidents in future.