President of Pakistan Tehreek-E-insaf (PTI), the lawyer Gohar, praised the timely actions of the security forces to avoid a major disaster in the attack by Jaffar Express, comparing him to the devastating attack on the public school of the army (APS) in Peshawar.
Addressing the media outside the court, Gohar said that the attack could have been as catastrophic as the AP tragedy, but the security forces prevented it, said Express News.
He congratulated the role of forces in the abolition of a disaster.
Gohar also discussed PTI’s efforts to negotiate with the government. He declared that PTI had trained a committee on December 4 to launch talks, and that subsequent meetings took place in December and January. PTI made two requests to the government, which were submitted in writing after the government asked them. However, Gohar said that the government had not acted on the possibilities of negotiation.
He also criticized the government’s treatment of the PTI founder, Imran Khan, saying that no one in the government was authorized to meet him for six months. “This is a violation of judicial orders and human rights,” he added.
Commenting on the recent actions of the Pakistani army, Gohar praised the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) for an informative press conference and reiterated the vital role of the security forces in the prevention of additional tragedy.
Yesterday, Lieutenant-General of the ISPR, Ahmed Sharif, said that India is the main sponsor of terrorism in Balutchistan, following the recent attack on the Jaffer Express. He added that the Indian points of sale broadcast videos generated by AI-AI and the diffusion content which distorted the actions of the terrorists.
His comments occurred at a joint press conference in Islamabad on Friday, where he was accompanied by the chief minister of Balutchistan, Sarfraz Bugti. They provided details on the attack by Jaffer Express, which was targeted by separatist activists from the Baloch Liberation Army (Bla).
The train, on the way from Quetta to Peshawar, was attacked in the Dhadar region of the Bolan pass, with more than 400 passengers taken hostage. The security forces have managed to save the hostages and neutralize all the attackers in a later operation.
According to DG ISPR, the attack started when the train was interrupted by an improvised explosive device (IED) around 1 p.m. in a mountainous area. Before that, the activists had attacked a border frontier control post (FC), killing three soldiers.
“BL activists were positioned in several groups, including the surrounding hills,” he said. “They took the passengers hostage, separating women and children inside the train while escorting the remaining hostages towards various places outside.”
The military leader also revealed that in the evening of March 11, a hostage group had been released under the pretext of ethnicity, further fueling tensions and division.
He described the rescue operation which followed, detailing how the security forces surrounded the region on March 12, engaging in a shooting with the activists. Some hostages were able to escape during the exchange. He pointed out that, remarkably, no hostage was killed during the operation, which he praised as one of the most successful terrorism operations in recent years.
“It was the most successful hostage rescue operation in world history, given the field and the presence of suicide bomber in the region,” he said. “Despite the challenges, our forces have executed the mission with precision and a minimum of victims.”
