RAWALPINDI/CHAKWAL:
A significant development has emerged in the case of the murder of Australian-Pakistani minor Hania Ahmed in Chakwal during the CCD firing, as an audio message from her injured father, Adeel Ahmed, has surfaced.
Expressing his displeasure over the ongoing police investigation, he claimed that four CCD members riding on two motorcycles chased and fired indiscriminately at his vehicle, although the robbers did not initially open fire.
Speaking from Benazir Bhutto Hospital in Rawalpindi, Adeel Ahmed said he was residing in Perth, Australia, and returned to Pakistan with his family on June 10 after performing Hajj.
He said they had gone to visit relatives when two thieves approached them outside a house and began committing a theft. He said the family was handing over valuables when gunfire suddenly erupted. He alleged that the CCD members first opened fire on their vehicle, 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 lodged in his arm. His daughter Hania Ahmed, aged nine, was injured by three or four bullets and died before reaching the hospital.
He said the shooting was so intense that even the vehicle’s brakes became inoperable. Despite his injuries, he managed to take his family to the hospital.
He alleged that the tragedy could have been avoided if CCD staff had allowed the thieves to leave and chased them later.
“The CCD targeted our vehicle rather than the thieves. If I hadn’t left, they would have killed us all,” he said.
Adeel Ahmed said he was not seeking financial help but wanted a transparent and impartial investigation to prevent similar incidents from happening again. He said officials from the Australian High Commission had met him and would visit him again.
He further claimed that neither the Pakistan nor Punjab government 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 the CCD staff.
Meanwhile, Additional IG CCD Punjab Sohail Zafar Chatha told the media at the victim’s grandfather’s residence that the CCD does not believe in extrajudicial killings and only acts against individuals involved in serious crimes.
He said these suspects are often armed and have a habit of shooting at police, but stressed that the life of any citizen is more valuable than the arrest of two thieves.
He said three to four robberies took place in Chakwal within a few hours on the day of the incident, putting the CCD on high alert. He acknowledged, however, that a better strategy would have been to pursue and arrest the suspects later. According to him, the robbers involved were from Sheikhupura and were later killed in a CCD operation.
Terming the incident as deeply tragic, he said the entire department stood with the affected family and the success of the investigation would ultimately be measured by the trust of the family and society in the CCD. He added that the institution now had the opportunity to correct its shortcomings following the death of Hania Ahmed and that training procedures would be reviewed and stricter SOPs introduced to help prevent similar incidents in the future.
