Language of Control and Criminality: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Narcotics FIRs Filed in Lahore

Abstract

Initial legal records known as ‘First Information Reports’ (FIRs) are administrative documents of the state that comprise and perpetuate narratives of criminality, morality, and deviant behaviour. Holding significant institutional power, these FIRs initiate criminal investigations in Pakistan. The study critically analyses drug-related FIRs filed in Lahore by drawing on Fairclough's three-dimensional CDA model, Van Dijk's ideological square, and Halliday's systemic-functional linguistics as its theoretical lenses. It discloses how discursive features like modality, transitivity, lexical choice, and narrative structure include and legitimise institutional, gender, and class-based discrimination. Using purposive sampling, the researcher has selected six FIRs filed between 2020 and 2025 from various police stations. The findings reveal that drug FIRs over-prosecute specific communities by employing derogatory labels and passive constructions that obscure police actions. In addition, religious and moralising discourses legitimise legal sanctions, characterising drug use not only as a legal but also a moral violation. Class-based differences are also evident, as well-off suspects are being linguistically normalised, and marginalised suspects are being demonised. Furthermore, the study highlights how FIRs function as ideological texts that accept social hierarchies and state power through legal neutrality. The research also aims to guide reforms in legal discourse and raise awareness of the linguistic biases rooted within Pakistan’s criminal justice system.