CHAKWAL, Pakistan — The fatal shooting of a nine-year-old Australian girl during a police response to an armed robbery in Pakistan’s Punjab province has drawn scrutiny of the country’s Crime Control Department (CCD), with authorities pursuing a murder case against the officer accused of opening fire on her family’s vehicle.
Hania Ahmed, from Perth, was killed on June 10 in Chakwal after police responding to a robbery mistakenly identified the family’s rental car as the vehicle being used by the suspects, according to Punjab police. Her father and brother were also injured, while her mother was unharmed.
Punjab police said the officer involved had incorrectly assessed that the robbers were attempting to flee in the family’s car and fired his weapon. The department said the officer’s actions breached established procedures governing the use of force. He was arrested, and the case was amended to include a murder charge under Section 302 of Pakistan’s penal code.
Police also said the two robbery suspects were subsequently killed in a separate encounter with officers. A joint investigation team was established to examine the circumstances of the shooting, while forensic evidence, including the officer’s weapon and spent ammunition casings, was collected.
The case has also raised wider questions about the operations of Punjab’s CCD, a specialized police unit created to combat serious crime. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a February report that it had documented at least 670 CCD-led encounters during the first eight months of 2025, resulting in 924 deaths. The rights group called for a high-level judicial inquiry, alleging that the pattern indicated systematic use of staged encounters. Those allegations concern the department’s broader operations and do not establish that the Chakwal shooting was part of such a practice.
The Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench in June forwarded a petition seeking a Federal Investigation Agency inquiry into Hania’s death to the agency’s director general. Police told the court that a case had been registered and the suspect arrested.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for a transparent investigation, while Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade provided consular assistance to the family.
As of the latest publicly reported developments, the officer remains subject to criminal proceedings and the circumstances surrounding the shooting remain under investigation.
