{"id":737484,"date":"2026-06-15T05:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T05:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/737484\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T05:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T05:54:10","slug":"australian-pm-calls-for-inquiry-after-hania-ahmed-9-shot-dead-by-police-while-visiting-pakistan-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/737484\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian PM calls for inquiry after Hania Ahmed, 9, shot dead by police while visiting Pakistan | Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Australian prime minister has called for Pakistan<\/a> to carry out a transparent inquiry into the shooting death of a young Australian girl by a police officer while on holiday with her family.<\/p>\n

Australian-born Hania Ahmed, 9, and her family were visiting a relative at Chakwal, in Pakistan\u2019s Punjab province, when they were robbed while in their rental car late on Wednesday night (local time).<\/p>\n

In a lengthy statement posted to X on Monday morning (AEST), Punjab police confirmed Crime Control Department officers intervened after the Perth<\/a> family was taken hostage at gunpoint.<\/p>\n

The suspects fired at a police officer, leading to an exchange of gunfire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the ensuing chaos, the officer involved mistakenly assessed that the suspects were attempting to flee in the victims\u2019 vehicle and discharged his weapon,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis erroneous decision resulted in the tragic death of \u2026 Hania and injuries to her father and brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl\u2019s mother was unharmed in the shooting.<\/p>\n

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the incident needed to be properly examined by authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese circumstances do need to be examined. They need to be examined in a transparent way, so that everyone can know, the family, most importantly, but others as well,\u201d he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia expects there to be transparency and a proper investigation of these circumstances.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart goes out to the family and friends, and indeed the Pakistani Australian community will be really feeling this today. A nine-year-old girl visiting Pakistan with her family should have been a time of joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The robbers fled on a motorcycle and were killed in a separate encounter with police on Thursday night (local time), Pakistani English-language news outlet Dawn reported.<\/p>\n

Map showing Chakwal in Pakistan<\/a><\/p>\n

The officer who opened fired on the Australian family\u2019s car completely deviated with established standard operating procedures and legal principles governing the use of force, police said.<\/p>\n

He has been suspended from duty, formally arrested and faced court, where he was remanded to judicial custody in jail.<\/p>\n

His weapon and spent shell casings are among forensic evidence that has been collected and sent for processing.<\/p>\n

Pakistani police have promised a \u201cthorough, impartial investigation to ensure that justice is served\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise that our primary duty is the protection of human life, and any failure to adhere to the principle of \u2018minimum force\u2019 is treated with the highest level of legal and departmental accountability,\u201d local police said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply saddened by this tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile our personnel operate in high-risk environments, there is no justification for a departure from our protocols.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hania was in year four at Australian Islamic College at Kewdale in Perth\u2019s east.<\/p>\n

The school, where her older brother attends grade five, held a special assembly on Friday afternoon with students and has offered counselling services.<\/p>\n

The executive principal, Abdullah Khan, remembered Hania as a \u201chappy, bubbly, friendly girl\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had lots of friends, was very social and was liked by peers and teachers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Khan said he spoke with Hania\u2019s father, Adeel, on Sunday and communicated the school and community would wrap its arms around the family upon their return.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is devastated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s recovered well but the brother is still hospitalised and going through the treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

It might take more than month for the boy to be well enough to travel back to Australia, Khan said.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the family.<\/p>\n

WA attorney general, Tony Buti, on Sunday described the incident as a tragic case of \u201cmistaken identity\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts and concerns are with the family and the Pakistani community that live in Western Australia<\/a>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Pakistani Association of Western Australia said the Ahmed family had, for now, requested privacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in contact with family as they are passing through this hard time,\u201d the community group said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Australian prime minister has called for Pakistan to carry out a transparent inquiry into the shooting death…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-737484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}