RAWALPINDI/CHAKWAL:
A significant development has emerged in the case of the killing of Australian-Pakistani minor Hania Ahmed in Chakwal during CCD firing as an audio message from her injured father, Adeel Ahmed, has surfaced.
Expressing displeasure with the ongoing police investigation, he claimed that four CCD personnel riding on two motorcycles chased and fired indiscriminately at his vehicle while the robbers had not initially opened fire.
Speaking from Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi, Adeel Ahmed said he is a resident of Perth, Australia and had returned to Pakistan with his family on June 10 after performing Hajj.
He said they had gone to visit relatives when two robbers approached them outside a house and began a robbery. According to him, the family was handing over valuables when a sudden outbreak occurred. He claimed that CCD personnel opened fire on their vehicle first, after which the robbers fired only two shots before fleeing.
Adeel Ahmed said his 11-year-old son, Afnan, suffered two gunshot wounds while he himself was hit twice, including a bullet in his arm. His nine-year-old daughter Hania Ahmed sustained three to four gunshot wounds and died before reaching the hospital.
He claimed that the firing was so intense that even the vehicle’s brakes became inoperable, but despite his injuries, he managed to drive his family to the hospital.
He claimed that the tragedy could have been avoided if CCD staff had allowed the robbers to leave and pursued them later.
“The CCD targeted our vehicle instead of the robbers. Had I not driven away, they would have killed us all,” he said.
Adeel Ahmed stated that he was not seeking financial assistance but wanted a transparent and impartial investigation to prevent similar incidents in the future. He added that officials from the Australian High Commission had met him and would visit him again.
He further claimed that neither the government of Pakistan nor Punjab had contacted the family and said he would ask the Australian government to seek justice on their behalf. He also alleged that the Chakwal police were trying to protect CCD personnel.
Meanwhile, Additional IG CCD Punjab, Sohail Zafar Chatha, told the media at the victim’s grandfather’s residence that CCD does not believe in extrajudicial killings and only acts against people involved in serious crimes.
He said such suspects are often armed and have a history of shooting at the police, but stressed that the life of any citizen is more valuable than the arrest of two robbers.
He said three to four robberies had taken place in Chakwal within a few hours on the day of the incident, putting the CCD on high alert. However, he acknowledged that a better strategy would have been to pursue and arrest the suspects later. According to him, the robbers involved had come from Sheikhupura and were later killed in a CCD operation.
He described the incident as deeply tragic and said the entire department stands with the affected family and that the success of the investigation will ultimately be measured by the confidence of both the family and the community in CCD. He added that the institution now has the opportunity to correct its shortcomings following the death of Hania Ahmed, and that training procedures will be reviewed and stricter SOPs put in place to help prevent similar incidents in the future.
