Police organisations in Pakistan are divided into those operating under federal control and those controlled by the administrations of their respective provinces and territories.258 According to an estimate found in academic papers from 2023 and 2025, Pakistan’s police had an overall strength of around 624 390.259 A CTD is found in each of the country’s four provincial police organisations260 and the Islamabad Capital Territory Police.261 Efforts were ongoing to also establish CTDs in AJK262 and GB.263 The Frontier Constabulary, a federal paramilitary force mainly recruited from KP264 and initially tasked to maintain law and order in border and frontier zones,265 is now present across multiple areas of the country, with its duties including operations against criminal gangs and smugglers. In mid-2025, the government decided to convert the Frontier Constabulary into a nationwide force named the Federal Constabulary, with recruitment efforts, offices266 and jurisdiction to be expanded across Pakistan.267
The highest police rank is that of Inspector General of Police (IGP),268 who acts as the head of a provincial or administrative police organisation.269 Police have been criticised for alleged bias and arbitrariness in handling criminal complaints,270 discouraging the registration of crimes, their conduct with the public, and inadequacies in preventing and responding to crimes.271 Moreover, NGOs noted that police frequently employed torture,272 mainly during arrests and interrogations,273 relying on torture to obtain confessions.274 According to findings of the National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS) 2025, conducted by Transparency International (TI) Pakistan across all of the country’s four provinces in September 2025, public perceptions of the police had improved by 6 % compared to 2023. Nonetheless, the police were viewed as the country’s most corrupt institution (24 %), with perceptions of police corruption highest in Punjab (34 %).275 During the reference period, law enforcement agencies were attributed responsibility for arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings.276 These included multiple enforced disappearances277 and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan that were reported to have been carried out by the CTD.278
- 258
RSIL, Frequently Applied Police Laws & Criminal Procedures, July 2016, url, p. 12
- 259
Korai, A.G. et al., Trust, Collaboration and Policing: A Qualitative Study of Street Crime in Karachi, July-September 2025, url, p. 629; Hadi, M.R., Community Policing: Lessons from Peshawar Police, 2023, url, p. 5
- 260
ANI, Pakistan: Balochistan Counter Terrorism Department files FIR in Noshki attack, 16 April 2024, url; News International (The), CTD KP to hire 181 investigation officers, 9 September 2025, url; Dawn, Punjab CTD control extended to entire Dera Ghazi Khan region, 18 December 2025, url; UNODC, Strengthening security, law enforcement, and justice—Pakistan, Canada, and UNODC’s enduring partnership for a safer future, 25 February 2025, url
- 261
Pakistan, ICTP, About, n.d., url
- 262
APP, AJK PM announces induction of Rangers, launch of CTD amid security, economic reforms, 6 April 2025, url
- 263
Dawn, Centre okays establishment of CTD police for GB, 13 September 2025, url
- 264
Express Tribune (The), New force planned to handle security, 14 July 2025, url
- 265
Arab News, Pakistan’s new federal force sparks fears of political repression ahead of Khan party protests, 16 July 2025, url
- 266
Express Tribune (The), New force planned to handle security, 14 July 2025, url
- 267
Arab News, Pakistan’s new federal force sparks fears of political repression ahead of Khan party protests, 16 July 2025, url
- 268
Pakistan, National Police Academy, Police Ranks, n.d., url
- 269
Faisalabad Realtor’s, Guide to Police Force Ranks in Pakistan, 30 October 2024, url
- 270
Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2025 – Pakistan, 2025, url section F2
- 271
Chishti, A.M. et al., Addressing the Public Trust Deficit in Pakistan’s Police: Challenges, Causes, and Pathways to Reform, 2025, url, p. 17
- 272
OMCT, Global Torture Index 2025: Pakistan Factsheet, June 2025, url, p. 1; HRCP, State of Human Rights in 2024, 2025, url, p. 32
- 273
OMCT, Global Torture Index 2025: Pakistan Factsheet, June 2025, url, p. 1
- 274
Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2025 – Pakistan, 2025, url, section F2
- 275
TI, Transparency International Pakistan has released National Corruption Perception Survey 2025, ALAC Pakistan, 9 December 2025, url, p. 1
- 276
HRW, World Report 2026 – Pakistan, 4 February 2026, url, p. 345
- 277
HRCB, Human Rights Violations in Balochistan: 234 Enforced Disappearances, 87 Killings Documented in February 2026, 28 March 2026, url; Voice PK, Enforced Disappearances: Govt claims drop, rights groups say rise, 8 July 2025, url
- 278
HRCB, Human Rights Violations in Balochistan: 234 Enforced Disappearances, 87 Killings Documented in February 2026, 28 March 2026, url