The Crime Control Department: A Legal and Reformist Appraisal

Keywords: Separation of Powers, Judicial Oversight, Extra-Judicial, Authoritarian Legalism, Shadow Justice

The article sheds light on the theory of separation of power by describing the roles of the major three organs of a state according to the theory. This article emphasizes the responsibilities and functions of the executive body of a state which is an essential organ of a state in order to maintain law and order within a society. According to the theory, it defines the main objective of the establishment of an executive body.

Keeping in view the principles and functions of the executive body, it criticizes the establishment of the new department of executive body in the province Punjab namely Crime Control Department (CCD). It also analyses how the CCD was formed and comprehensively examines the sections that enable the creation of this department, reaching on a conclusion that there was no need for such a department to eliminate crime from the society. Moreover, it highlights that the practice of the newly developed unit (CCD) reminds the mindset of the Pre-Colonial authorities in the subcontinent. Rather to serve and protect the citizens their main objective was to suppress and control the society. Unfortunately, the method taken by CCD to regulate its opera reflects the same mindset. In addition, the CCD’s practice undermines the fundamental rights provided by the constitution of Pakistan, especially Rule of Law, Fair Trial and Due Process.

This article makes the authorities realize that the crime can only be eliminated through society by gaining the public trust in the legal institutions. And, there is a dire need to understand that the recent operations carried out by the CCD is eroding the public trust in the institutions. It stresses that crime can only be vanished from society when the people are confident that law will protect them. By providing evidence, this article establishes how the actions of the CCD agencies have raised questions among legal experts and social activists.

Additionally, it negates the concept of institutional multiplication keeping in view the history of the executive body within Pakistan. Instead, the article emphasizes that the focus should be shifted to introducing institutional reforms in a structured way while spending budgets in the right way rather than spending the budgets merely on the formation of new departments. Moreover, the article establishes, by providing the information from authentic sources, how the flaws in the current criminal justice system are affecting the legal institutions, especially the Police and Judiciary departments.

Most importantly, this article is of the view that there is no need to spend heavy budgets merely on the creation of new departments. Instead, it will be more useful if these budgets are utilized in the existing ones while uplifting and improving, addressing the flaws and issues of current institutions.

Lastly, it points out that the environment of the jail should be improved at the first place to curb the crime as the prison system is at its breaking point across Pakistan, especially in Punjab. The criminals become more affirmed in their beliefs, behaviors and ideologies after spending time there rather than repent and think on how to correct themselves as a human being as the main objectives of the prison in modern day are not being fulfilled. It suggests an approach on how to improve the institutions at hand by pointing out the genuine problems.

Montesquieu’s Theory of separation of Power

Montesquieu’s concept of Separation of Power postulates that a state has three branches, legislative, executive and judiciary that would be contributing in their respective domain and not interfering in any other branch. In order to continue the smooth functioning of a state, it is necessary for each branch not to exceed from its primary role and function.

The core responsibility of the legislative branch is to make, amend and repeal laws determining through debates what suits better to the interest of the people and state, while representing the will of the general public. And, the executive branch makes sure the implementation of laws in order to maintain law and order within the society for the sake of peace. It also punishes the offenders, any whoever violated the laws in any manner for the security of the society. Lastly, it is the responsibility of the judiciary to determine between the conflicted parties on the legal principles, upholding the rule of law. It is also the judiciary that specifies the punishments for the offenders by following a proper procedure based on Fair Trial and Due Process, guaranteeing the protection of rights granted in the constitution. However, the recent development of the Crime Control Department under executive in Punjab and the playbook that is adopted by the CCD to carry out its operation seems to have greatly misaligned the balance in separation of power as per the Doctrine.

Legal Framework of the Crime Control Department (CCD)

CCD was established through an amendment in the Police Order 2002, namely the Police Order Ordinance 2025. It is necessary to look into the amendment in order to understand the purpose and function of the CCD. It came into force by omitting section 18B while inserting 18C. First, there is a need to go through section 18 for the sake of proper understanding.

The section 18 of the Police Order Ordinance, 2002 lays down the principle that the watch and ward should be separated from investigation to achieve fairness and transparency in the investigation process. It advocates that there would be an investigation branch in every district that would be working under its capacity which is entirely different from routine policing that includes, maintenance of law and order, patrolling duties, and guarding public and private property. It also provides proper mechanism and guidelines on how the investigation process would be operated and under which authorities.

The mechanism is structured in a way that the Districts, other than Capital City and City Districts, shall be operated under the supervision of the officer not below the rank of SP. And, the Capital City and City Districts shall be headed under the supervision of the officers not below the rank of DIG and SSP respectively. It states that the officer-in-charge of a police station should immediately inform the head of the Investigation Branch after registering any complaint who, after determining the jurisdiction of the case, would begin the investigation process. The supervisory officer of the DIB shall also be responsible for the timely completion and verification of investigation.

Moreover, the supervisory officer, not below the rank of DSP, would verify the correctness of investigation and accuracy of conclusions before submitting it to the court so that fairness and transparency can be ensured in order to achieve justice. Additionally, in the sub-section 6, it is declared that in order to curb the severe crimes in each district, the specialized wings or teams can be established and the number of such investigation staff shall be determined by the PPO/IG, mentioning no need to form specific police stations until when required. According to the ordinance, all the aforementioned mechanisms would be processed under the single police station. Lastly, it states that the investigation team must not be employed in any matters other than the investigation.

The section 18B, introduced through the Police Order ( Punjab Amendment) 2024 , states that the organized crime unit shall be established in every district that would be specialized regarding the cases including kidnapping for ransom, extortion, dacoity, robbery, dacoity with murder, robbery with murder, theft of motor vehicle, housebreaking in order to commit offense, trafficking of narcotic drugs, inter-provincial or inter-district gangs included in crime against property, high profile cases as determined by the head of District Police. In addition, the mentioned unit shall be supervised by the officer holding the rank of DSP who may, under specific circumstances, constitute a special investigation team or cell tasking them to work on different categories of offenses.

Redundancy in Institutional Design; Was CCD Necessary?

It is essential to mention here that 18B was inserted by the PMLN Government on the fiat of the CM Punjab on 4 June 2024. The mechanism provided in 18B was sufficient to curb even severe crimes as it was covering all types of crime, having a specialized team. Unfortunately, the time given to these organized crime units was almost eleven months, which was not sufficient for such a unit, especially without funds.

Interestingly, after 11 months 18B was omitted by inserting 18C that means the creation of CCD by the same government and CM, allocating 6.54 Billion in FY 2025-26. While, the organized crime units under 18B were not granted such kinds of funds. In addition, the same year overall the budget allocated to the police department was 10 Billion. Through introducing this section nothing new was added up to the mechanism but budget and acronym. Even there is no special trained staff within CCD as the same police staff was recruited in CCD without providing any special training.

When the personnels in the CCD are the same and when no special training is provided to the officers then what is the point of making a department based on the same structure just giving a new name and some special powers. Many of the scholars are of the opinion that creating new institutions and giving them new name is not the solution to the problem, even members from the executive branch IG Balochistan, Asif Nawaz Warraich, gave its statement on the establishment of the CCD, saying, “Instead of forming a new department, there was a greater need to reform the existing police station culture in order to reduce the rate of crime. The government should have improved the condition of police stations rather than wasting billions on a new crime control department. Crime prevention is the core duty of the police, and it requires effective policing rather than the creation of a new department just to give high-ranking positions”.

The incumbent government should realize that introducing new acronyms to the general public cannot be the way to eliminate crime from society. Especially, when assigning unlimited powers to such new departments that act violently erodes public trust in the institution. And, trust is the basic element that law enforcement agencies must win from the general public as most of the time people do not move towards such departments having apprehensions.

Historical Pattern of Aggressive Law Enforcement Agencies

Through the careful reading of the history of the law enforcement agencies in Pakistan it is established that the “new acronyms” having unlimited powers can reduce the crime rate temporarily but it has never been a tool to curb crime properly within the society. For instance, the Federal Security Force (FSF) established in 1972 by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto had the same mandate and powers. The FSF reduced the crime rate but later it is stated that allegations were made against the force based on abuse of power, committing extra-judicial killings and becoming a political weaponization tool. The force was designed and welcomed in the same manner as the CCD was a few months back.

But the important factor to be noted is whether the crime had been eliminated from society by granting unlimited powers to a law enforcement agency that undermined the rights, Rule of Law, Fair trial, and Due process, granted in the constitution and bypassing the judiciary. Likewise, the same trend of extra-judicial killings was seen between 1990 and 2005 and the output was 4000 police encounters were made, resulting in the killing of more than 3000 suspects, and 493 were addition to this number involving police personnel. Interestingly, the peak of encounters were noticed in Punjab under the PMLN’s government when the CM was Shahbaz Sharif. The question still stood there as if the crime had vanished out from the society or the policy makers learned any lesson from previous experience.

Furthermore, CCD came into being under the same government that experienced already that just by bearing down on the society without taking the steps required by constitution only erodes public trust on the institutions as the people begin assuming that the institutions that are there to serve and protect them are now becoming a political weapon. It is wasting time by repeating the shallow mechanism whose output disappointed everyone. The government institutions and policy makers ought to understand the situation that instead of institutional multiplication and raising parallel forces, there is a dire need to introduce institutional reforms as the mindsets in the institutions are the same.

Even our so-called specialized wing to curb severe crimes consists of the same old mindsets which is the actual reason for all this destruction. The mechanism through which the members of the CCD team are selected was that they just shifted the officers from the police departments to CCD based on their experience, without even providing special training, uplifting their skills and capabilities, after taking a handsome budget from the government. In addition, the aforementioned criteria was even not followed properly as if it would have been followed so we had different results. The incident of blackmailing of a citizen by one of the officers of the CCD and then the actions taken by the DIG Operations Lahore, Faisal Kamran, speak itself about the competency of the so called specialized wing. Authorities should spend budgets on the current institutions to correct their flaws and try to equip them with the international standard tools.

Operational Realities: Allegations of Brutality and Corruption in CCD

As far as the operations carried out by CCD are concerned, the practice adopted by CCD is undermining the fundamental rights provided in the constitution and spreading violence. The practice followed by the CCD reflects the mindset of the authorities in the Colonial-era that was aimed to suppress and control the society rather than to protect and serve the society. A report by Human Rights Commission Pakistan states that there are at least 670 CCD-led encounters in just eight months,  as a result of killing 924 suspects. Interestingly, CCD is not accountable for its action as the defence they are holding is doing a great job but raising questions in the legal minds and among the scholars. Another report by HRCP explains the playbook followed by CCD after every encounter that a suspect is located, then they open fire on police and are subsequently in the ensuing shootout leaving no possibility for arrest, investigation or trial.

This narrative is used by the CCD in every encounter, not even changing a single word. Moreover, another report by last November stated that CCD raided Zubaida Bibi’s home in Bhawalpur and kept away mobile phones, cash, her daughters wedding dowry, and even gold and jewelries that raises a question on what kind of investigation department the CCD is. Basically, the CCD was after her 3 sons and two sons-in-law, including one 18 years old son. The lady also said that she followed them to Lahore and begged for her son’s release. Unfortunately, the next morning they all were dead without getting a chance to speak for themselves and their mother was left to hue and cry without knowing what her sons had done. Such practices do not eliminate crimes from the society; rather it erodes public trust on the institutions, producing even more hardened criminals.

The authorities have failed to spend the budgets on the necessary things for the improvement of the criminal justice system, reducing crime within the society. They have also negated an appropriate approach to curb crime from the society. The approach that should be taken by the authorities is to improve the criminal justice system of the society as a whole and not just by introducing new “acronyms” with unlimited powers, bypassing other branches of a state, especially judiciary and the rights of the citizens guaranteed in the constitution.

Misdiagnosing the Problem: Institutional Weakness and Policy Failure

A report by the Transparency International Survey in South Asian countries reveals that the police and judiciary remain the most corrupt departments in Pakistan. This report highlights the flaws in the current criminal justice system that the authorities and policy makers have failed to notice and work upon them. The authorities ought to realize that there is nothing wrong in the current laws and law enforcement agencies and instead of spending billions introducing new institutions with crushing powers, what is needed is to purify the current system from corruption and to make balance among the branches of the state as per the doctrine of separation of powers.

The Neglected Pillar: Role of Prisons in Criminal Justice and Failure of the Prison Objectives

Moreover, prison is the most serious element of the criminal justice system that has been successfully forgotten. Historically, prisons had been a harsh and brutal tool to punish the offenders until the eighteenth century as the belief was only in retribution for the punishment. During the nineteenth century such reformatory movements started that shifted the world’s focus from retribution to reformation and rehabilitation. In today’s world, prisons are conceived as a place of solitary confinement that makes offenders regret their sins. And, through individualized training and vocational training, prisons are now a place for reformation and rehabilitation, resorting to seek the solution for the elimination of crime within a society. This is the crucial stage, after conviction, in the criminal justice system to transform the criminals into civilized persons which the authorities have subtly neglected, spending billions of rupees just for acquiring appreciation temporarily.

Unfortunately, the prison environment is so neglected that even its core objectives are not being fulfilled while the authorities are keeping silent on it. The 5C included as the objectives of prison are (i) Custody, keeping inmates in safe place of confinement to satisfaction of the court, (ii) Control, maintaining discipline within the prison premises, (iii) Care, meeting basic needs of the inmates, (iv) Correction, providing treatment ( physical mental, and psychological counselling) to reform and rehabilitate the convicted inmates, and (v) lastly Cure, provision of facilities that are needed for a normal person to become productive member of the society. Not a single of them are being fulfilled properly.

Creating a proper rehabilitation and reformation environment within the prisons are out of question, as of now, prisons, at the hand, have not enough capacity for keeping the offenders in custody. According to the Prison Data Report 2024, 12,026 people are housed in 128 functioning jails across Pakistan that means prisons are at 152.2% overcapacity. As far as Punjab is concerned, jails are operating at 173.6% of their capacity. It is such a nature of issue that the jail system is at its breaking point which needs to be addressed without wasting any time while the authorities are spending funds on the things of less importance.

Furthermore, actions must be taken to provide adequate rehabilitative, educational, vocational, or recreational activities which are the core objectives of incarceration. No attention is being paid to address these issues undermining their significance. Additionally, there is such a toxic environment within the jails that the new bee or the less criminal minded persons become even more hardened in their beliefs and ideologies. There is a dire need to figure out such flaws within the current criminal justice system if the authorities are intended to eliminate crime from society. Otherwise, crime cannot be vanished out of the society and the society would collapse or be suppressed by the authorities, leaving questions regarding freedom.

Conclusion and Policy Recommendation

In conclusion, the establishment of the CCD was not necessary to fulfill the goals described by the authorities, as they already had a proper mechanism to curb crimes. All they needed was the enforcement of the mechanism. Besides, the operations that are being carried out by the CCD are unconstitutional which is damaging the public trust on the institutions. Moreover, the practices adopted by the CCD are raising questions among the scholars and the legal analysts, leaving the general public in confusion, which need to be addressed by limiting the CCD in the ambits of Law.

Furthermore, the article aims to make the authorities realize that instead of spreading confusion within the society by raising a parallel forces to the police in the form of introducing new acronyms with unlimited powers and misaligning the balance as per the concept of separation of power, the authorities ought to spend the budgets on the things more important than introducing new acronyms.

Lastly, there is a dire need to improve the prison system in Punjab which is at its breaking point due to over-incarceration, functioning at 173.6% of their capacity, considering the significance of the prison system in the criminal justice system, including the 5C of the prisons. The authorities should focus to address the flaws that exist in the current criminal justice system rather than to focus on institutional multiplication.

Bibliography

Books and Reports:

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Deadly surge in police encounters in Punjab alarming: HRCP (DAWN, n.d.)

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, HRCP calls for high-level judicial inquiry into deaths resulting from CCD operations (n.d.)

National Commission for Human Rights Pakistan, Prison Data Report 2025 (2025) https://nchr.gov.pk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/prison-data-report-2025.pdf

‘Reform by bullet’ (DAWN, n.d.)

‘The prisons crisis of Pakistan’ (DAWN, n.d.)

Academic Articles

‘Police reforms and accountability in Pakistan’ https://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/PSR/PDF/3_v1_1_12.pdf

‘The state of policing in Pakistan: A critical analysis’ (2019) https://pjcriminology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/3-24.pdf

Online Articles and Newspapers

‘A leaf from history: FSF — the dreaded organisation’ (DAWN)

Khan S, ‘Pakistan’s Punjab police kill 900 people in eight months: what’s going on?’ (Al Jazeera, 18 February 2026)

‘Police get only Rs10 billion’ (DAWN)

‘Police, judiciary remain most corrupt institutions in Pakistan, survey finds’ (DAWN)

‘Policing in question as new crime control unit emerges’ (The Express Tribune) https://tribune.com.pk/story/2566463/crime-control-department-skirts-legal-system

Legislation

Police Order 2002

Police Order Punjab (Amendment) Act 2024

Punjab Police Order (Amendment) Act 2025