Karachi sees sharp rise in ‘encounter’ killings as 200 shot dead in 10 months

Karachi police have killed roughly 200 suspected street criminals in alleged encounters over the past ten months, marking an 80% increase from 109 deaths during the same period in 2025. This sharp rise in killings has drawn criticism from human rights groups, who label these incidents as "extrajudicial" killings. The Karachi police, however, maintain that all encounters were legitimate, citing the fact that several police officers were also injured or killed during these confrontations.

Official records do not disclose the number of police personnel wounded in the 1,437 encounters that took place between January 1 and October 25 this year. Beyond the 197 suspects killed, the police encounters resulted in 1,426 other injuries, a 67.9% increase from 849 wounded individuals during the same period last year. The number of police encounters also surged by 71% in 2026 compared to 2025, when there were 840 encounters.

Asad Iqbal Butt, Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), stated that they consider deaths of suspects in encounters as "extra-judicial killings." He explained that this issue had not only affected the Punjab police but had now spread to Karachi as well. Butt mentioned that in Punjab, during an eight-month period, 1,000 suspects were killed in alleged encounters.

He further pointed out that introducing the terminology of "full fry" and "half fry" did not lead to a decrease in crimes but instead increased them.

The HRCP chief suggested that improving policing, conducting thorough investigations, and implementing judicial reforms would help curb crimes. He argued that when a suspect is killed in an alleged encounter, it signifies that the state's trust in the judiciary has ended. When contacted, two senior police officers did not respond to Dawn's questions about the reasons behind the surge in encounter killings, the existence of standard operating procedures following a suspect's death, and the number and nature of inquiries conducted.

In response to the rising crime rate in October, Karachi police chief Azad Khan revealed that more personnel have been deployed for the Shaheen Force. Initially active only in District Central, the force has now been extended to other districts. Additionally, police patrolling and snap-checking in suspected hotspots of street crime have been intensified.

These measures have led to an increase in encounters with suspected robbers. The police refuted allegations of staged encounters and attributed the increase in such incidents to enhanced patrolling on roads. They believed that implementing technological advancements in investigation procedures could deter criminals and improve the overall criminal justice system.