LAHORE: Inspector General of Police, Punjab, Abdul Karim and Crime Control Department (CCD) Chief Sohail Zafar Chattha have pledged a transparent investigation and accountability in the Chakwal shooting case that claimed the life of nine-year-old Pakistani-Australian girl Hania Ahmed, saying that no police official would be shielded if found guilty.
The IGP announced constitution of a high powered joint investigations team (JIT) to probe the matter on merit.
Addressing a press conference at the IGP Office Lahore on Thursday, the provincial police chief expressed condolences to the bereaved family and described the death of the child as an irreparable loss.
“The loss of an innocent child cannot be justified under any circumstances,” he said, adding that operational pressure, misunderstandings or policing challenges could not be used to excuse such an incident.
He said the Punjab Police considered the matter extremely serious and initiated legal proceedings immediately after the shooting.
He said the suspected cop has been taken into custody and a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has been constituted to ensure a professional inquiry.
He maintained that public trust in policing depends on accountability and warned that negligence or misuse of authority would not be tolerated. “This case is not merely a file. It concerns the life of a child and the grief of a family. Justice will be ensured,” he said.
The CCD chief said the first information report (FIR) has been registered on the statement of the victim’s father without alteration.
He said the absence of a nominated suspect in the FIR would not affect the investigation which would proceed on the basis of evidence and facts.
Explaining the sequence of events, he said CCD personnel had responded to reports of a robbery in a narrow street where armed suspects were allegedly looting a family.
During an exchange of fire, the suspects took cover behind a vehicle. A police officer, believing gunfire was coming from the vehicle, opened fire without positively identifying the target.
The firing resulted in the death of Hania Ahmed and injuries to her father and brother.
Chattha termed the incident a “mistake in judgment” and an improper use of force.
He said standard operating procedures (SOPs) required positive identification of a target before opening fire and that the alleged failure to do so formed a key part of the ongoing investigation. Police training and operational procedures are also being reviewed to prevent similar incidents in future.
Officials confirmed that two robbery suspects were killed in a separate encounter and said investigations are continuing to establish their involvement in the crime.
The latest briefing follows an earlier press conference by CCD Regional Officers Abdul Hannan, Shah Meer Khalid and Jahandad Akram who publicly acknowledged that the shooting of the minor girl was a mistake and admitted that established SOPs had not been followed.
They stated that the officer involved failed to properly identify the target before firing and did not follow the requirement to engage a fleeing vehicle by targeting its tyres rather than its occupants.
During that media interaction, the officials drew parallels with the 2019 Sahiwal tragedy, in which members of a counterterrorism unit killed civilians after mistakenly identifying them as militants, and pledged that the Chakwal case would not meet a similar fate.
They vowed to pursue legal action against those responsible and ensure the matter reaches its logical conclusion.
The case has attracted widespread public attention in Pakistan and abroad, prompting calls for accountability and a review of police use-of-force protocols.
