The Federal Board of Revenue condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attack on the Joint Check Post at Aman Mela, Dera Ismail Khan, in which personnel of Pakistan Customs, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Excise and Taxation Department have been martyred and injured while on duty.
The attackers then fired upon an ambulance carrying the injured from the post. There is no cause on earth that permits the targeting of the wounded and of those who carry them. That the attackers chose to do so shows what they are: not fighters for anything, but men without honour, whose method is the killing of the helpless. Pakistan Customs and its partner forces will remember this.
FBR mourns its own. Havaldar Farman Ullah and Sepoy Usama of Pakistan Customs who laid down their lives at their post today. To their families we offer our deepest condolences. Your loss is the loss of this institution, and you will not face it alone. Member Customs has already issued standing instructions to the Chief Collector of Customs (Enforcement) and the Collector of Customs (Enforcement), Peshawar, to leave no stone unturned in supporting the bereaved families. FBR stands with you today and will stand with you in the months and years ahead, in every matter of support, entitlement and care that this organisation can provide.
Inspector Kashif, Sepoy Afaq Adil, Sepoy Mehboob and Sepoy Affan are under treatment. They are receiving the best available medical care, and FBR is ensuring every necessary support to them and their families.
FBR also extends its heartfelt condolences to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Excise and Taxation Department on the martyrdom of their personnel. Our officers served at that post shoulder to shoulder with theirs, and they fell together. We share the grief of both forces and honour the courage of a province that has borne the heaviest burden in this country’s long fight against terrorism.
The Board wishes to say clearly what is often left unsaid. The men and women of Pakistan Customs are not desk officials. They serve at the border crossings of Balochistan, at Chaman and Taftan, in the frontier districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on the coast and in some of the most difficult and dangerous terrain in the country. They interdict weapons, narcotics, smuggled goods and the money that finances violence. Every day, alongside the Armed Forces, Frontier Corps, Police and other law enforcement agencies who lead this fight, they hold their share of the line where the writ of the state meets those who would erase it. Together with them, they are standing between anarchy and order.
Those who attacked them know this. They struck at the post because the post is where the state is present. They will not succeed. This attack will not weaken the resolve of the Federal Board of Revenue, and it will not deter our personnel from their duty. Our posts will remain manned. Our checks will continue. Our officers will return to their positions, as they always have.
The sacrifice of Havaldar Farman Ullah and Sepoy Usama places a debt on this institution that it will honour by continuing their work without fear or hesitation.
May Allah Almighty grant our Shuhada the highest ranks in Jannah, give patience and strength to their families, and grant a swift and complete recovery to the injured.
