ISLAMABAD: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday called for a “transparent” investigation into the killing of a nine-year-old Australian girl who was killed mistakenly by Pakistan’s police in the eastern province of Punjab last week.
Hania Ahmed, a Pakistani Australian girl, was killed on Wednesday after police officers shot at her family’s car in the eastern Chakwal city. Ahmed was killed on the spot while her father, Adeel Ahmed, 39, and 10-year-old brother, Aafan Ahmed, suffered critical gunshot wounds and remain under treatment. Ahmed’s mother, Sidra Khan, remained unhurt in the incident.
Crime Control Department (CCD) personnel mistook the family’s vehicle for that of suspected criminals and opened fire at it, a local police official Sajjad Hussain told Arab News on Sunday. Police initially registered a case of murder and armed robbery against unidentified suspects. However, later it amended the case and arrested CCD Constable Shujaat Mughal on murder charges following public outrage over the incident and a preliminary investigation. Police also said two robbers involved in a recent dacoity had also been killed in the incident.
Speaking to reporters, Albanese expressed solidarity with the Pakistani-Australia community, saying that they will be “really feeling this today.”
“These circumstances do need to be examined,” the Australian premier said. “They need to be examined in a transparent way, so that everyone can know – the family most importantly but others as well – and Australia expects there to be transparency and a proper investigation of these circumstances.”
Mazhar Hussain, Ahmed’s grandfather, told Arab News that his son Adeel and his wife were visiting relatives in Pakistan after performing the Hajj pilgrimage. They were returning home after dinner at a relative’s house when the incident occurred.
Recalling the shooting incident, Adeel said the gunmen intercepted their vehicle near the CCD office at 11:40 p.m. on Wednesday and demanded their valuables.
“My wife and I complied…My wife took off her jewelry and handed it over,” Ahmed was quoted as saying in the First Information Report (FIR).
“While these individuals were robbing us of our jewelry at gunpoint, a shot was fired. Taking cover behind the car, the individuals started firing, and cross-firing also commenced from the front side.”
Ahmed attempted to speed away to protect his children, but the vehicle was struck by a hail of bullets from behind, wounding him and both children, according to the FIR. The family was rushed to a nearby hospital, where the nine-year-old girl was pronounced dead.
The shooting comes amid heightened scrutiny of the Punjab CCD, a specialized police unit established last year to combat organized crime.
Rights groups, including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), have accused the department of carrying out extrajudicial killings disguised as police shootouts. The HRCP says it has documented at least 670 encounters resulting in 924 deaths between April 2025, when the CCD was formed, and December 2025. CCD denies allegations of extrajudicial killings.
