Gunmen kill 7 customs officials in two attacks
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Unknown gunmen killed two customs officers in western Pakistan, officials said on Sunday, following the killing of five other customs officials in the area in recent days.
No group has claimed responsibility for the two attacks since Thursday, which police said they were investigating.
“Customs officials were present for checks... when unknown persons opened fire,” said the district deputy superintendent of police, Muhammad Adnan, adding that two people were injured and the area on a busy highway had been cordoned off.
“Three days ago, five officials, including an officer, of the customs department, were killed in a shooting in the same area and the attackers escaped,” he said. The rise in attacks has escalated tensions between Pakistan and the Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban administration.
Pakistan, saying militants have been using Afghan territory to launch attacks, has called on the Taliban to take action and carried out an airstrike last month on Afghan territory.
The Taliban have denied allowing the use of Afghan soil for militancy and said Pakistan’s security issues are a domestic issue for Islamabad.
In a separate development, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has rejected a proposal to reinstate former Hazara Regional Police Officer (RPO) Mohammad Ijaz Khan.
The Establishment Department requested a review of the decision to suspend Ijaz Khan over the Besham tragedy in which Chinese engineers were killed, citing that the preliminary inquiry did not indicate any lapses on his part. Suspension and disciplinary action, it said, are inconsistent with the findings of the fact-finding inquiry report.
A letter sent by the Establishment Division stated that under the prime minister’s approval, four police service of Pakistan (PSP) officers were placed under suspension for a period of 120 days under Rule 5 of the Civil Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 2020.
The officers are Muhammad Ijaz Khan (PSP/ grade-20), RPO, Hazara Division; Muhammad Zafar Ali (Psp/grade-20); Jamil Akhtar (PSP/ grade-18), district police officer (DPO), Lower Kohistan District and Muhammad Sulman (PSP/ grade-18), DPO, Upper Kohistan District.
However, upon reviewing the fact-finding inquiry report, it was found that no act of omission/commission had been identified in respect of Muhammad Ijaz Khan (Psp/grade-20) by the inquiry committee.