Our Correspondent, Islamabad: 150 Pakistani soldiers were riddled with bullets by Baloch rebels while attempting to rescue hostages from the hijacked Jaffar Express. This claim was made on Tuesday (March 11) by Pakistan’s former parliamentarian Abdul Qadir Baloch. He further claimed that 182 hostages are still in the hands of the militants.

Most of the hostages are passengers of the train that was hijacked. The Baloch militants had warned the government, led by Shehbaz Sharif, in the afternoon that if the army launched an operation to rescue the hostages, it would lead to a flood of dead bodies. According to sources, the militants blew up the railway line, prompting Pakistan’s top military officials to discuss launching an operation via air to reach the hijacked train.

For a long time, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has been waging a shadow war against the Pakistani government, demanding independence. Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province, is naturally the most resource-rich, but it is gradually slipping out of the hands of the Baloch people. Over the past few years, armed groups like the BLA and the ‘Baloch Nationalist Army’ (BNA) have alleged that Pakistan and China are plundering Balochistan’s natural resources. On Tuesday (March 11), BLA militants seized the Jaffar Express while it was traveling from Balochistan’s capital, Quetta, to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. As soon as this incident came to light, it caused widespread uproar.

Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind told journalists, “While traveling from Balochistan’s capital Quetta to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the Jaffar Express, along with its passengers, was hijacked by Baloch rebels inside tunnel number eight of the mountain-surrounded railway line. After the hijacking, the railway line behind it was blown up with explosives to prevent the army from reaching the militants. Upon receiving news of the train hijacking, the Balochistan provincial government issued a state of maximum alert. The army may launch an operation to free the hijacked train. Following this news, the Baloch rebels issued a stern warning to the Shehbaz Sharif government regarding any military operation.”

On the other hand, after the hijacking of the Jaffar Express, the Pakistan Railway Ministry decided to suspend trains heading to Quetta from various stations across the country. This is because the train traveling from Quetta to Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, is stranded in tunnel number eight of the mountain-surrounded railway line. Heavy gunfire is ongoing between Pakistani soldiers and Baloch rebels. Consequently, the Railway Ministry is unwilling to take any risks.