Azhar Rashid Khan, PSP

            In recent months, Punjab has witnessed a dramatic escalation in the use of force, particularly through the Crime Control Department (CCD), and a rising number of encounters and allegations of extra-judicial killings. While such actions are often justified in the name of expediency—that is, swift restoration of public order—they raise serious questions about the durability of democracy, the role of the judiciary, and the perils of laissez-faire policing.

What the Numbers Don’t Tell Us

            In the heart of Punjab, a paradox is unfolding. Lahore, once a hotspot for street-level violence, now boasts a dramatic 39% year-on-year drop in heinous crimes (Geo News, 2025) A. Yet, across the province, total First Information Reports (FIRs) have surged by 28.5%, reflecting a broader 11% rise in reported crimes during the first half of 2025 compared to 2024 (Punjab Police, 2025) A. This divergence between visible crime suppression and rising criminal reporting reveals a deeper shift: crime isn’t vanishing—it’s mutating.

            The Crime Control Department (CCD), launched in February 2025 under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, has undeniably reshaped the urban security landscape. Armed with AI-powered surveillance, drone response systems, and centralised crime databases, CCD’s hard policing tactics have delivered swift results. Robbery, murder, and car theft have plummeted across major districts (Legal Point, 2025) B. Public confidence, at least on the surface, has rebounded.

            But beneath this veneer of success lies a troubling displacement. As street crimes recede, more insidious forms of criminality—financial fraud, cybercrime, human trafficking—are quietly proliferating. FIR data and independent media analyses suggest that criminal networks are adapting, moving into less visible, more organised domains that evade traditional enforcement (Data reportal, 2025).

            This evolution demands a strategic pivot. Punjab’s reliance on brute-force crackdowns and extrajudicial encounters—over 250 suspects killed in CCD operations—may offer short-term deterrence, but risks undermining the rule of law and public trust (Daily Pakistan, 2025).

Key Evidence

• Lahore Heinous Crimes: 97,565 (2022-23) → 65,712 (2023-24). (Punjab Safe City Authority report, Dawn).
• Punjab Total FIRs: 760,371 (2022) → 1,063,518 (2023), showing a 28.5% rise in registered crime. (The News & Tribune reporting).
• Transparency Concerns: Fact-checking bodies and courts have flagged data manipulation, delayed FIR registration, and selective case clearing.

The Landscape: Data & Debates

            Punjab’s law enforcement statistics show that in 2024, there were over 1,008 police encounters, with approximately 502 suspects killed, 710 injured, and 635 arrested, figures that mark a sharp increase over 2023 (The Express Tribune, 2025; Tribune, 2025). Critics have argued that many of these deaths are in “fake” or staged encounters (Shahzad, 2025).

            The Lahore High Court, in a petition filed by Farhat Bibi, has directed the Inspector General of Police to review all CCD encounters following allegations of a staged police encounter resulting in a death in custody. The court held that constitutional and legal protections demand oversight of police conduct, especially where custodial deaths are alleged (LHC CJ directs IG Punjab to ‘review CCD encounters’, 2025).

            Meanwhile, in the Punjab Provincial Assembly, members have expressed concern over the lack of institutional oversight over police power. In November 2024, the Assembly ordered the establishment of Provincial and District Public Safety and Complaints Commissions — as required by the Police Order of 2002 — to ensure accountability in policing (Dawn, 2024). Similarly, during a session, lawmakers called for eliminating weapons among civilians and criticised the police for protecting criminals rather than prosecuting them (The Tribune, 2025).

Why the Costs Are High

1. Undermining the Judiciary and Separation of Powers

Extra-judicial methods circumvent the judiciary’s constitutional role as arbiter of guilt. When police conduct staged encounters or custodial killings without full judicial oversight or due process, the executive in effect usurps the power of courts. The judiciary’s legitimacy suffers, and the separation of powers—which is central to democratic governance—erodes.

• Erosion of Rule of Law

Rule of law demands that laws be public, general, prospective, clear, and enforced impartially (Fuller, 1964). Expedient policing violates many of these norms: “fake encounters” often hinge on after-the-fact rationalisations, not transparent evidence. If “criminal record holders” can be targeted with little review, the standard of impartiality is compromised.

• Risks to Democratic Legitimacy and the Social Contract

Democracy is not merely majoritarian rule but legitimacy rooted in fairness, rights, and trust. When citizens see law enforcement act beyond legal bounds, even with popular support, trust is damaged. Social cooperation—citizen reporting of crime, trust in institutions—will decline.

• Laissez-Faire in Policing Is Not Neutral Discretion—it Enables Impunity

Laissez-faire policing in theory means minimal constraint, broad discretion for officers. But when that discretion lacks checks—judicial oversight, civilian complaint commissions, internal accountability—it becomes impunity. The institution of the Public Safety & Complaints Commissions as directed by the Punjab Assembly is meant to curb “absolute power” (Dawn, 2024). Without them, policing becomes unpredictable and arbitrary.

Parliamentary and Judicial Interventions & What They Signal

• The Punjab Assembly’s November 2024 ruling to establish Provincial and District Public Safety and Complaints Commissions (Punjab Assembly, 2024) is a recognition by elected representatives that unchecked policing undermines both public rights and governance.
• The Lahore High Court’s order in July 2025 to have the IG review all CCD encounters reflects judicial concern and asserts the courts’ role as guardian of constitutional norms (Business Recorder, 2025).
• In debates, members of the Assembly have called out the police for failing to enforce the law fairly, instead allegedly protecting some criminals while harshly targeting others (The Tribune, 2025; The Tribune, 2025).

These interventions are not merely idealistic: they matter. They are part of the institutional framework that keeps policing within democratic bounds.

Policy Implications

• Do not conflate short-term encounter optics with dismantling organised crime: heavy-handed tactics reduce street-level incidents but leave financial and cyber conduits untouched.
• Invest in financial crime units, digital forensics, and cross-border intelligence, in line with UNODC recommendations on organised crime disruption.
• Mandate transparent, standardised provincial crime reporting with independent audits of all encounter killings and suspicious case closures.
• Strengthen prosecution pipelines and witness protection to ensure cleared investigations lead to convictions — not just better statistics.

What Must Be Done: Upholding Democracy While Ensuring Security

            Sustainable crime control now hinges on intelligence-led policing, judicial reform, and digital forensics. Soft policing tools like GPS monitoring, community engagement, and anonymous reporting must complement the tech-heavy arsenal (Legal Point, 2025).

            Equally vital is the role of quasi-judicial authorities and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms. In rural Punjab, panchayats have long served as informal justice forums, resolving petty disputes with speed and cultural sensitivity. The Punjab Alternate Dispute Resolution Act 2019 and its 2020 Rules provide a legal framework for accredited mediators and arbitrators to settle minor criminal and civil matters outside formal courts (Punjab Laws, 2020). This model offers confidentiality, restorative justice, and community reconciliation—especially in cases where litigation may escalate tensions or prove inaccessible (Bhatti & Rizwan, 2023).

            Punjab stands at a crossroads. The CCD has proven that technology can suppress street crime—but lasting safety will require a deeper reckoning with the invisible forces shaping criminal behaviour. The province must now choose: continue chasing symptoms, or confront the system.To balance legitimate demands for safety with democratic principles, Punjab must:

            Ensure due process even in fast-track measures: Expedient units like CCD can be given time-bound mandates, but all suspects must be subject to legal rights, timely judicial review, and protections against torture or custodial death.

            Operationalise oversight bodies: The Public Safety & Complaints Commissions must be formed, independent, with powers to investigate, summon officials, publish findings, and recommend sanctions.

            Transparent data publication: Government must publicly publish encounter statistics, use of force data, deaths in custody, and outcomes of investigations, so citizens and scholars can assess, critique, and monitor.

            Strengthen judicial and prosecutorial capacity: Courts and prosecutor offices must be adequately resourced to handle increased caseloads, forensic evidence, and human-rights work.

            Reinforce non-coercive policing: Community policing, restorative justice, localised dialogue; rather than relying only on force, engage society’s soft power—peer pressure, moral suasion, local dispute resolution.

            Our Islamic tradition offers profound guidance on this matter. The Qur’an commands,“Believers! Be upright bearers of witness for Allah, and do not let the enmity of any people move you to deviate from justice. Act justly, that is nearer to God-fearing. And fear Allah. Surely Allah is well aware of what you do.” (SURAH AL-MA’IDAH AYAT 8 (5:8 QURAN)-This verse reminds rulers and citizens alike that justice must remain unwavering, even when dealing with those perceived as enemies. Furthermore, Islam upholds the dignity and rights of every individual, including the condemned and guilty. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) emphasised, “Those who are just and fair will be with Allah, Most High, on thrones of light, at the right hand of the Most Merciful, those who are just in their rulings and in their dealings with their families and those of whom they are in charge” (Sunan al-Nasa’i, Hadith 5379, Darussalam, 2007). This Hadith underlines the true islamic spirit of justice in ummah and its leaders. The strength of a society; is not monetary nor coercion or fear, but in its being just  and compassionate.

Conclusion

        The crime statistics emerging from Punjab are a paradox. On one hand, streets in cities like Lahore appear safer, with dramatic drops in robberies and other violent offences. On the other, total registered crimes are climbing, and courts continue to uncover hidden backlogs and irregularities. This mismatch hints at a deeper evolution: criminals shifting from visible, street-level offences into sophisticated networks of financial fraud, cyber scams, and transnational rackets. The Counter Crime Department’s (CCD) heavy-handed reliance on encounters and rapid case disposals may deliver headlines, but it risks missing the real battle.

            Punjab must indeed confront crime with determination and resolve. Yet, the true test of a just and democratic society lies not merely in what it does, but how it chooses to act. When the state succumbs to the lure of expediency—bypassing due process, weakening judicial authority, and normalising impunity and torture —it may achieve short-lived calm, but at the cost of sowing seeds of long-term instability. Such shortcuts corrode the moral and institutional fabric of governance, leaving democracy a hollow shell rather than a living, breathing ideal. Punjab’s lasting peace and security will emerge not through fear-driven measures, but through a steadfast commitment to law, fundamental rights, and strong institutions. Policing strategy built on transparency, intelligence, and rule of law is not just a moral necessity — it is the only path to truly secure Punjab’s future.

In the theatre of a quasi-democratic state, non-legal punishments play out like hastily written dramas — complete with heroes draped in virtue and villains painted in sin. The audience cheers, the curtain falls, and justice seems momentarily served. Yet beyond the applause lies the unlit space — that grey, uncertain realm where doubt lingers and truth demands the quiet deliberation of judicial review.

References

Darussalam. (2007). Sunan an-Nasa’i (Hadith 5379). Riyadh: Darussalam Publishers.

Sahih International. (2024). The Qur’an. Jeddah: Abul-Qasim Publishing House. (Original work published 7th century).

https://sci-int.com/pdf/7359740103 Special issue 2 Adnan Nasir Panchayat as a Justice agency.pdf

https://sja.gos.pk/assets/articles/Quasi Judicial.pdf

The author is former Addl.Inspector General of Police. He is also a policy analyst specializing in governance reform and strategic communication. He writes on political evolution, security governance, and federalism in South Asia.