Karachi Police Killed Nearly 200 Suspects in ‘Encounters’ in 10 Months — and Rights Groups Are Sounding the Alarm

Police in Karachi killed nearly 200 suspected street criminals in alleged encounters in the first 10 months of 2026 — an 80 per cent jump on the same period last year. The sharp rise has alarmed Pakistan’s leading human rights body, which calls the deaths extrajudicial killings and warns that a practice once associated with Punjab police is now spreading to Pakistan’s largest city.

According to official data maintained by Karachi police, 197 suspects were killed in 1,437 police encounters between 1 January and 25 October 2026. Another 1,426 suspects were wounded. The number of encounters themselves surged by 71 per cent compared with 840 in the same period of 2025.

The figures were first reported by Dawn on 8 November 2026, and they raise a difficult question at the heart of policing in Karachi: are these shootings the result of tougher action against violent street crime, or a sign that police are increasingly acting as judge, jury and executioner?

Here is what the numbers show, what each side says, and why it matters.

The numbers at a glance

The Karachi police data, as reported by Dawn, paints a stark picture of how policing in the city has changed this year.

• 197 suspects killed in alleged encounters between 1 January and 25 October 2026, up from 109 in the same period of 2025 — an increase of about 80 per cent.
• 1,437 encounters recorded in the same period, up from 840 last year — a 71 per cent rise.
• 1,426 suspects wounded in those encounters, up from 849 in the corresponding period of 2025 — a 67.9 per cent increase.
• No figure given for police casualties. The official data does not say how many police officers were wounded in the 1,437 encounters.

The last point matters. In a genuine exchange of fire, officers on both sides are usually at risk. When hundreds of suspects are killed or wounded and the number of injured officers is not even recorded, human rights groups say the public has reason to ask questions.

What is a police ‘encounter’?

In Pakistan, the word “encounter” has a specific meaning in police reporting. It describes a situation in which police say they came under fire from suspected criminals and fired back, killing or wounding the suspects.

Encounters are legal when they are genuine — when officers are defending themselves or others from an immediate threat. The problem, critics say, is that the same word is also used to describe staged killings, in which a suspect in custody is taken out and shot, and the death is then recorded as the result of a shoot-out.

Telling the two apart is hard, because the police version of events is usually the only official account. That is why human rights groups, courts and journalists pay close attention when the number of encounter deaths suddenly jumps.

The HRCP’s warning: ‘extrajudicial killings’

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), the country’s best-known independent rights body, has described the deaths as extrajudicial killings — killings carried out without a trial or a court order.

Its chairperson, Asad Iqbal Butt, told Dawn that the commission considers the deaths of suspects in encounters to be extrajudicial killings. He described the practice as an “ailment” that had affected the Punjab police and said it now seemed to be spreading to Karachi.

Butt pointed to the HRCP’s recent fact-finding in Punjab, where about 1,000 suspects were shot dead in alleged encounters over an eight-month period. He recalled that when terms such as “full fry” and “half fry” — slang for killing a suspect, or shooting him in the legs — were introduced in the recent past, crimes did not decrease. Instead, they increased.

His argument is simple: killing suspects does not make a city safer. What works, he said, is “improving policing, carrying out investigations on a scientific basis and introducing judicial reforms”.

He added a pointed observation: when a suspect is killed in an alleged encounter, it means the state’s trust in the judiciary has ended. In other words, if the police no longer believe the courts will punish criminals, they may start punishing them themselves — and that is a dangerous road for any country that calls itself a democracy.

The police response: ‘proactive policing’

Karachi police chief Azad Khan did not respond to Dawn’s questions about the surge in encounter killings, even after a week. The newspaper had asked him about the reasons behind the rise, whether there are standard operating procedures after a suspect dies in an encounter, and how many inquiries had been conducted into such deaths.

Two senior police officers, speaking anonymously, defended the operations. They said all the killings of suspects in encounters were genuine, and that the actions were taken on main roads after complaints from robbery victims.

The officers said a spike in street crime was witnessed in October, though it was difficult to attribute it to any single reason. That prompted the police to review their strategy. As part of the revised approach, the number of personnel deployed in the Shaheen Force — a special unit set up to tackle street crime — was increased.

Initially, the Shaheen Force was active only in District Central, but it has now been activated in other districts as well, with more officers deployed. Police patrolling and snap-checking — surprise roadside checks — in areas known for street crime were also stepped up. The officers said these measures had led to more encounters with suspected robbers.

They rejected allegations of staged encounters and said the rise in such incidents was due to increased patrolling on the roads. They also maintained that police personnel had suffered bullet wounds in the encounters and, in some cases, had been killed — although, as noted above, the official data does not record how many officers were hurt.

‘Time to revamp the criminal justice system’

The Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), a respected body that works between Karachi’s citizens and its police, has called for a deeper fix.

Its chief, Zubair Habib, told Dawn that the time had come to “revamp” the whole criminal justice system to prevent such encounters, including reforms to the police and the prison system.

Deterrence, he said, is created only when a criminal realises that he will be caught and punished — not when he fears being shot on the street. He noted that crime was falling in many parts of the world because of the use of modern technology, and said Karachi police had also improved in some areas, particularly in the investigation of murder cases, with the use of technology.

The message from both the HRCP and the CPLC is the same: the answer to street crime is a police force and a court system that work properly, not more shooting.

A wider pattern across Pakistan

The Karachi figures do not exist in isolation. Police encounters have been a running controversy in Pakistan for years, and recent months have seen several flashpoints.

In Punjab, the HRCP has called for a judicial inquiry into deaths during operations by the province’s Crime Control Department, alleging a “deliberate policy of staged police encounters leading to extrajudicial killings”. According to the HRCP, at least 670 encounters were carried out across Punjab over eight months in 2025, resulting in the deaths of 924 suspects — while only two police officials were killed in the same period.

The HRCP has also said that between 2020 and 2025, more than 600 people were killed in over 400 police encounters in Karachi, and that more than 40 per cent of those cases were later declared fake.

The issue has a long history in the city. The killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud, a young man from South Waziristan, in an alleged encounter in Karachi in 2018 became a national scandal and led to a high-profile court case. More recently, a Karachi court handed down a death sentence to a police constable in a fake encounter case in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, ruling that the killing was “cold-blooded murder and a staged fake encounter”, not a shoot-out with robbers.

And the debate is not limited to Karachi. A Dawn editorial on 26 October 2026, titled “Encounter culture”, noted that seven suspected criminals were killed in Karachi police encounters on one day and three more the next, and warned that such accounts “may be accurate, but cannot be accepted without scrutiny”. The frequency of the encounters, the editorial said, raised questions about how operations are conducted and whether suspects are given an opportunity to surrender.

The use of force by the state has also been in the news elsewhere in Pakistan. In Azad Kashmir, a crackdown on months-old protest camps in Rawalakot left three people reported killed, in a separate confrontation between security forces and protesters. You can read our report on that here: Rawalakot Crackdown: Three Reported Killed as Security Forces Clear Months-Old Protest Camps in Azad Kashmir

Why street crime is the backdrop

None of this happens in a vacuum. Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and home to well over 20 million people, has struggled with street crime — muggings, mobile phone snatching and armed robbery — for years. For ordinary residents, the fear of being robbed at gunpoint on the way home is real, and there is genuine public pressure on the police to act.

That pressure helps explain why encounter killings often enjoy public support. When the courts are slow, cases drag on for years, and arrested robbers are frequently released on bail, many people see police shootings as the only form of justice that works.

But rights groups warn that this is a trap. A police force that kills suspects instead of arresting them stops gathering evidence, stops building cases, and stops improving its investigations. Over time, the institution gets worse at its real job, not better — and innocent people get caught in the crossfire.

There is also the question of accountability. If a suspect is killed, there is no trial, no defence lawyer, and no chance to establish whether the person was actually guilty. And if an encounter is staged, the officers involved face little risk of being caught — unless, as in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar case, a court eventually intervenes.

What happens next

Three things will decide where this story goes from here.

First, whether any independent inquiry takes place. The HRCP has already demanded a judicial inquiry into encounter deaths in Punjab. No such inquiry has been announced for Karachi, and the city police chief has not answered questions about whether inquiries are even conducted after encounter deaths.

Second, whether street crime actually falls. The police say their tougher approach is a response to rising street crime. If robberies and muggings drop sharply, the strategy will gain supporters. If they stay the same or rise — as the HRCP says happened in Punjab after “full fry” and “half fry” became common — the case for the crackdown weakens.

Third, whether the courts keep pushing back. The death sentence in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar fake encounter case shows that judges are willing to punish officers when a killing is proved to be staged. More verdicts like that would change the calculation for officers on the street.

For now, the numbers speak for themselves: 197 people killed, 1,426 wounded, and 1,437 encounters in less than 10 months — with no public record of how many officers were hurt, and no answers from the city’s police chief.

Frequently asked questions

How many people have Karachi police killed in encounters in 2026?

According to Karachi police data reported by Dawn, 197 suspected street criminals were killed in 1,437 alleged encounters between 1 January and 25 October 2026. That is about 80 per cent more than the 109 killed in the same period of 2025.

What is the HRCP?

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is an independent, non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Pakistan. It conducts fact-finding missions, publishes reports, and speaks out on issues including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and freedom of expression.

What does ‘extrajudicial killing’ mean?

An extrajudicial killing is a killing carried out by state authorities without a trial or a court order. Human rights groups use the term for deaths in police encounters that they believe were staged or avoidable.

What is the Shaheen Force?

The Shaheen Force is a special Karachi police unit set up to tackle street crime. It was first deployed in District Central and has since been expanded to other districts, with extra personnel, more patrolling and snap-checking in areas known for street crime.

What do police say about the encounters?

Senior Karachi police officers say all the encounters were genuine, took place on main roads after complaints from robbery victims, and followed a tougher strategy adopted after street crime spiked in October. They say officers have also been wounded and killed, though the official data does not give a figure for police casualties.

What is a ‘fake encounter’?

A fake or staged encounter is a killing presented by police as a shoot-out, when the suspect was in fact unarmed, in custody, or killed deliberately. Courts in Pakistan have convicted officers in such cases, including a recent case in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Karachi, where a constable was sentenced to death.

The bottom line

Karachi’s police killed nearly 200 people in alleged encounters in under 10 months — far more than last year, and far more than the number of officers reported hurt. The police say every shooting was genuine and necessary to fight street crime. The HRCP says the deaths are extrajudicial killings and a sign that faith in the courts is collapsing.

Until there is a proper, independent look at how these encounters happen — who is killed, why, and whether anyone checks — the argument will go on. What is not in doubt is the scale: 2026 is already the deadliest year for police encounters in Karachi in recent memory, and the trend is still rising.

Sources

• Dawn, “Karachi sees sharp rise in ‘encounter’ killings as 200 shot dead in 10 months”, 8 November 2026: https://www.dawn.com/news/print/2042935
• The Tribune (ANI), “Pakistan: HRCP raises alarm over Karachi police’s 200 encounters in 10 months as extrajudicial killing concerns mount”, 8 November 2026: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/pakistan-hrcp-raises-alarm-over-karachi-polices-200-encounters-in-10-months-as-extrajudicial-killing-concerns-mount/
• Dawn, “Encounter culture” (editorial), 26 October 2026: https://epaper.dawn.com/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=26_10_2026_006_002

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.