Mother of Jaffar Express hostage lashes out at govt

The mother of Shahzaib, one of the individuals taken hostage by terrorists after capturing the Jaffar Express train in the Bolan district of Balochistan, has lashed out at the government. 

In a video that has surfaced online today, a woman introduced herself as hostage Shahzaib's mother. She was heard asking government officials about why train service was not suspended if the security situation in the area was dire.

“If you had suspended the trains, there wouldn’t have been any tickets available. If we had known the train wouldn’t hit the track, we wouldn’t have come. It was your job,” she said. 

Criticising the government, she lambasted the Chief Minister (CM) of Balochistan, Sarfraz Bugti, for being absent from the scene. “Where is Sarfraz Bugti? Take me to him,” she urged, adding that Bugti travels with a huge protocol.

The hostage's mother further hit out at Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, asking where is the Interior Minister who had said that the terrorists were “aik SHO ki maar hain (They can be handled even by a SHO).” 

She was referring to the statement Naqvi made on August 27, 2024, during a press conference in Quetta flanked by the Balochistan CM. He said there is no need for an operation in Balochistan. These terrorists “can be handled by a SHO. Taking action against cowardly terrorists doesn’t require any complex strategy,” Naqvi had said.

An unknown number of terrorists on Tuesday bombed the railway track before storming the train near the Bolan Pass of Balochistan, opening fire on the locomotive and injuring the driver. The train was hijacked when it stopped just before a tunnel in a remote, mountainous region.

The train, carrying over 400 passengers in nine bogies, was en route from Quetta to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) when it came under attack. Among the hostages were a number of security personnel, a leading English newspaper reported.

The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that they had taken a significant number of people hostage.

The rescue operation for the Jaffar Express is underway, with security forces successfully rescuing around 155 hostages and eliminating at least 27 terrorists who had hijacked the train.

The hijacking was an unprecedented event, as terrorists had never previously attempted to seize an entire train along with its passengers.

According to reports, the security forces' operation forced the militants to split into small groups. Meanwhile, 17 injured passengers were shifted to a nearby hospital for urgent medical treatment.