RAWALPINDI: Due to alleged inaction by the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation, District Council and district administration, stray dogs have proliferated across the city and made life difficult for residents.
Citizens are living in fear of stray dogs. Packs of dogs are seen roaming streets and neighbourhoods from morning through evening. Groups of dogs have begun to gather outside butcher shops, chicken shops and small roadside hotels.
Incidents of women and children being bitten have been reported, yet no action has been taken so far.
There is hardly any lane, neighbourhood, intersection, open plot, graveyard, park or bus stand free of stray dogs.
Chairman of the Citizen Action Committee, Malik Zaheer Awan, identified problem areas including Zafarul Haq Road, Chah Sultan, Dhok Khabbah, Dhok Ilahi Bakhsh, Sadiqabad, Amarpura, Millat Colony, Chaklala Road, Shukrial, Arya Mohalla, Moti Mohalla, Raja Bazar, Faizabad, Pirodhai, Dhok Hasoo and Asghar Mall – and said dogs have even established a presence inside Holy Family Hospital.
A video of stray dogs fighting inside Holy Family Hospital surfaced on September 23.
Numerous dog-bite incidents have occurred. School and college students go to classes afraid.
Citizens said walking outdoors has become difficult for citizens, especially children, women and the elderly.
Because of stray dogs, citizens have stopped going for walks. They urged the commissioner and the metropolitan corporation to take immediate action as an accident could occur at any time.
“We call on the Chief Minister Punjab and the Chief Secretary Punjab to rid the city of stray dogs so that citizens may breathe easily,” citizens said.
Municipal Corporation and District Council officials, when contacted, said that due to severe economic and financial crisis these municipal bodies no longer allocate funds for dog control.
In the past, from 1070 to 1985 (local calendar reference in the original) municipal authorities hired shooters who were provided government guns and ammunition to shoot stray dogs in neighbourhoods.
Sanitary workers collected and dumped the carcasses outside the city. Those shooters have since been made redundant.
During General Musharraf’s local government era, a poisoning system for dogs was introduced and later discontinued in 2008. For the past 17 years, the Municipal Corporation and District Council of Rawalpindi have had no automated dog-control system.
Now, culling campaigns can take place only on the deputy commissioner’s orders. Because there is no system, not only are dogs abundant across the city, but hospitals also lack injections and medicines for dog- and snake-bite treatment, and these must be procured from the market.
Citizens Chaudhry Imran, Sajid Khan and Hafiz Sajid have demanded an immediate dog-control campaign.
Health experts have also warned that the growing number of stray dogs poses a serious public health risk, with the potential spread of rabies and other infectious diseases.
They stressed the need for a coordinated vaccination, sterilisation, and awareness campaign alongside emergency supplies of anti-rabies vaccines in hospitals to protect citizens. Residents complained that despite repeated protests, the authorities have failed to even carry out a survey of the problem.
They warned that if no action is taken soon, citizens may be forced to take matters into their own hands.
News Published in Express Tribune on September 24, 2025.
