Islamabad, June 18 (IANS) The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Thursday expressed grave concern over persistent extrajudicial killings in Pakistan’s Punjab province, where 808 police ‘encounters’ reportedly have resulted in the deaths of 1,100 suspects.

According to the HRCP, the organisation had earlier cautioned the Punjab government that the Crime Control Department (CCD) Punjab appeared to be routinely using lethal force as a tactic to "control" crime.

Since the CCD was formed in April 2025, the HRCP has recorded 808 police ‘encounters’ in which at least 1,100 suspects have been killed.

The rights body further criticised the killing of a nine-year-old child, describing it as part of a broader normalisation of the use of lethal force outside due process.

Calling for an immediate judicial enquiry into the incident, 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.”

Meanwhile, as violence against civilians continues to mount across Balochistan province, human rights organisation Baloch Voice for Justice (BVJ) strongly condemned the extrajudicial killing of another Baloch man, Abdul Razzaq Baloch, by Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on June 12 in Sibi district.

According to the rights body, Razzaq was forcibly disappeared after being taken into custody earlier this year.

“The identification of Abdul Razzaq Baloch among those killed in a CTD operation in Sibi on 12 June 2026 raises grave concerns about the treatment of individuals subjected to enforced disappearance. 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,” the BVJ stated.

Last month, the HRCP raised alarm over the sharp deterioration in security in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where residents were increasingly caught between enforced disappearances, targeted killings and militant attacks.

It stated that the alleged kidnapping of the vice-chancellor, pro-vice chancellor and two other Gwadar University employees in Mastung, while travelling from Gwadar to Quetta, sparked questions about the state's ability to secure major highways and protect residents.

--IANS

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