Train attack in Balochistan: More than 150 hostages freed but the crisis persists
Security forces say 155 people were rescued, while the Balochistan Liberation Army says it still has more than 200. The separatists want a prisoner swap within 48 hours. Over the past year, the armed group has shut down major highways and intensified actions against infrastructure, while Islamabad has failed to offer a political solution.
Quetta (AsiaNews) – Pakistan's security forces have announced that they freed 155 hostages from the train that was seized yesterday by members of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).
The operation to free the other passengers is still ongoing, the Pakistani Home Affairs Ministry said, without specifying how many people are still held by the terrorists.
The BLA said it still held 214 people hostage. Local authorities could not confirm the number, but law enforcement officials reported killing 27 terrorists.
Pakistan's leading English-language newspaper, Dawn, said that it would not provide any details about the ongoing operation until it was completed.
Rescue operations are complicated by the fact that Baloch separatists have positioned themselves near passengers wearing explosive vests, Reuters reports.
For its part, the BLA claims to have placed civilians in safety, and to have taken Pakistani “prisoners of war”.
The Balochistan Liberation Army began its action yesterday by blowing up tracks to block the Jaffar Express, which was carrying about 450 people from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, to Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a trip that usually takes 30 hours of travel.
In several communiqués, the separatists have set a 48-hour ultimatum for the release of Baloch prisoners held by the government in exchange for the hostages. In case of refusal, they said that hostages would be killed.
Balochis are an Iranic ethnic group. For decades, Balochi separatists have been fighting the Pakistani state, accusing it of behaving like a colonial power that exploits the region's natural resources to the detriment of the local population.
In recent years, the BLA has also targeted infrastructure projects that are part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), such as the port of Gwadar, often carrying out attacks against strategic sites and Chinese nationals, seen as complicit in the region’s economic exploitation.
Last week a group of armed groups, known as Baluch Raji Ajohi Sangar (Balochi National Liberation Movement, BRAS), to which the BLA belongs, issued a statement announcing the creation of a new army with the aim of continuing the "war" against China and Pakistan and promising to inflict greater losses on the enemy.
In the last year, Pakistan has reported a rise in terrorist activities across the country, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, by the Pakistani Taliban, and in Balochistan.
According to a report by a local think tank, the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, the latter saw an 84 per cent increase in attacks over the previous year, up by 120 per cent in the case of the BLA and other separatist groups.
Although Pakistan's security forces have suffered the greatest losses, the BLA has also targeted the rail and highway infrastructure.
In the first two months of 2025 alone, BRAS-linked groups blocked three major highways in the province on four separate occasions, carrying out passenger checks for hours, looking for members of the Pakistani security forces.
In the statement released on 2 March, the BRAS also announced that it would “intensify the blockade on all important highways of Balochistan to disrupt the logistical, economic, and military interests of the occupying state.”
The road connecting Quetta to Karachi, one of the busiest, has been dubbed the “killer highway” due to the growing number of violent incidents carried out by Baloch separatists. It is crucial for the local population, who use it mainly to seek medical care.
Other infrastructure projects planned by the government of Pakistan have remained unfinished. This limited local mobility, and exposed locals to acts of violence: In April and August 2024, the BLA targeted buses from the central province of Punjab, killing dozens of passengers.
In November, a suicide bomber struck a train shortly after it departed from Quetta train station, killing at least 32 people.
Last month, the BLA took control of Zehri, a rural town in central Balochistan, and held it for several hours, trying to find security personnel. Since the start of the year, national highways have been shut down 76 times for different reasons.
So far, the government of Pakistan has responded to the Balochistan insurgency with harsh repression, in many instances resorting to violent tactics, such as the enforced disappearances of young people suspected of belonging to separatist groups.
Despite requests from many quarters, Islamabad has always refused to negotiate with the Balochis.
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27/04/2022 17:10
