Father of Australian girl shot by police while visiting Pakistan demands justice | Pakistan

The father of a nine-year-old Australian girl killed on holiday in Pakistan has demanded justice and called for “harm reduction” for the controversial new police wing in which officers opened fire with machine guns in response to a robbery.

Hania Ahmed and her family were completing their family visit by visiting her grand-uncle Ali Ejaz at his home in Chakwal, Punjab, last week.

But the robbers confronted the family outside Ejaz’s home late on Wednesday and demanded they hand over money, jewelery and other items, Ejaz told the Guardian.

Hania’s father, Adeel Ahmed, said that her mother, Hania, and her 11-year-old brother, Aafan, begged them “don’t harm my family” and agreed to hand over their property.

But within 30 seconds of this meeting, shortly before midnight, officers from the crime control department (CCD), a newly formed police wing in Punjab, arrived from a nearby station armed with machine guns and opened fire on both the robbers and the family as they tried to escape in their car, according to CCTV footage seen by the Guardian.

An eyewitness, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Guardian they watched the incident from about 20 meters away.

“I could see the car speeding up and the police officer shooting directly at the car,” they said. “Then two CCD officials stopped a passing motorcycle, got on it and then three or four more police personnel got into the car and chased the family car.”

Nine-year-old Hania was killed during the exchange. The Guardian understands he was shot four times and died before reaching hospital.

His father, Adeel, 39, was reportedly shot twice but was not seriously injured, according to CCD police chief Sohail Zafar Chatta.

The family had just returned from Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, and were due to return to Australia on Monday.

Stating that “the incident shattered the family and the people in the region,” Ejaz said that the family wants justice.

Amid public criticism of the police response, photos of a bloody car with dozens of bullet holes spread on social media.

On Monday, Punjab police said an officer “mistakenly assessed that the suspects were trying to escape in the victims’ vehicle and fired his weapon.” He was suspended from duty, formally arrested and brought to court, where he was placed under judicial custody and detained in prison, with police promising a “thorough, impartial investigation”.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese also called for a “transparent and appropriate” investigation.

Hania was a 4th year student at the Australian Islamic College in Perth. His brother Aafan was shot twice and was recovering at Benazir Bhutto hospital in Rawalpindi.

He said Chatta visited the family on Sunday and promised a transparent investigation.

Friends and family said father Ahmed was still in shock and trying to process the tragedy.

In his recorded message, he said those responsible should be punished “to prevent this incident from recurring and to reduce the dangers of CCD.”

“This was initiated by the CCD. The robbers did not open fire at first. They only fired in retaliation,” Ahmed said.

“There were at least four CCD officials and they need to be punished,” he pleaded in his recorded message.

But Chatta said the armed robbers started shooting – although he acknowledged that the CCD officer should not have shot at the car without positive identification unless they were sure the armed robbers were in the car.

“The fact that CCD officers continued to fire without being positively identified was a serious violation of CCD rules,” he said. “We have registered a case and the family has expressed confidence in the investigation.”

CCD was created as a new department last May. Punjab police have been criticized for “extrajudicial killings” across the state. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has called for a judicial investigation into at least 924 murders committed by the CCD in the last eight months of 2025.

Its 45-page report said the CCD had embraced encounter killings in Punjab province “as a matter of policy” and undermined the rule of law and constitutional guarantees.

Chatta denied the accusations, saying: “We have a highly polarized political society in the country, which means we are subject to criticism because of politics.”