Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Friday that terrorists and their enablers and facilitators would be challenged both inside and outside the country, as he held a press conference related to the Jaffar Express attack.
The attack began on Tuesday afternoon when BLA terrorists ambushed the Peshawar-bound train carrying 440 passengers, opening fire and taking hostages. Security forces launched a two-day operation, concluding on Wednesday evening. Lt Gen Chaudhry confirmed that all 33 terrorists were neutralised, but no hostages were harmed in the final rescue phase. He also said the incident had changed the “rules of the game”.
During the presser, where he maintained that India was the main sponsor of terrorism in Balochistan, Lt Gen Chaudhry was questioned about any changes or developments in the “rules” since his remark.
“Terrorists will be dealt with as they deserve — those who drag innocent people from buses and slaughter them. A group that divides people by ethnicity has no connection to Baloch ethnicity or Islam. We will take them on, their facilitators, their abettors, whether inside Pakistan or outside Pakistan,” he responded.
Lt Gen Chaudhry said the terrorists had used both Indian and Afghan weapons in the recent incident and previous attacks.
“We must understand that in this terrorist incident in Balochistan, and others before, the main sponsor is your eastern neighbour (India).”
DG ISPR then criticised the Indian media for spreading propaganda about the incident.
“The Indian media displayed fake footage of the incident to spread propaganda,” he said, as he showed some video clips on a screen to prove his point.
“They attempted to create a narrative by sharing AI-generated images and fake videos. They were leading an informational warfare.”
The DG ISPR said a “nexus” was working amid the situation to give legitimacy to the terrorists and their narrative.
Showing various clips of Indian officials and personalities discussing efforts to destabilise Balochistan, the DG ISPR said the Jaffar Express attack was a “continuation of the same policy”.
Most successful hostage operation
Providing details of the train attack and the ensuing rescue operation, he said that the terrorists had deliberately selected a remote location to conduct the attack where there were no telecommunication signals, adding that one group of hostages with women and children was kept inside the train, while the other travellers were brought outside and gathered on the ground.
“They operated in multiple groups, taking strategic positions on higher ground. After planting the improvised explosive device (IED), which disabled the train, they took the passengers hostage,” he detailed.
Lt Gen Chaudhry added that the terrorists had suicide bombers among their ranks.
The military media chief gave a detailed breakdown of the operation, describing each step. “Within 36 hours, in a remote area with inaccessible terrain and the presence of suicide bombers, our soldiers, the air force and the FC successfully conducted the operation with professionalism and bravery.”
He added that the Special Services Group’s Zarrar Company had arrived in the area by midday and was monitoring the terrorists from a distance.
“They carried out a situational assessment,” he said. “They had to plan the operation very carefully because of suicide bombers, who could detonate their vests and kill the maximum number of people.”
DG ISPR said that Zarrar Company targeted the suicide bombers from a distance before moving in to secure the hostages, adding that the hostages, who were sitting in the open for 24 hours, took the opportunity to run to safety.
The media chief showed the audience drone footage of people running from the train.
“They ran in multiple directions, wherever they could go,” he said, adding that once they were safe, Zarrar Company operators cleared the train, moving from the front engine to the rear bogey.
Highlighting drone footage of the soldiers moving into the front engine, DG ISPR said, “They entered and cleared the front engine, killing any terrorists they encountered. They then cleared the whole train bogey by bogey.”
“Not even a single casualty was recorded among the hostages during this entire operation,” DG ISPR highlighted. “Despite their intentions, they (the terrorists) were unable to kill even a single hostage,” he added, clarifying that some passengers had embraced martyrdom before the operation.
“In terms of operations carried out on trains, this can very rightly be put out as the most successful hostage operation conducted,” DG ISPR said.
“A group of hostages was released based on their ethnic affiliations. Just as the CM said it, these terrorists have nothing to do with being Baloch, being Pakistani or being a Muslim.”
He added that there were logistical reasons for the terrorists to release some passengers since there were too many on the train for them to be able to control.
He said the terrorists tried to create a “false impression” of humanitarian values by claiming they had released some hostages.
DG ISPR further stated that a Zarrar Comapny soldier was injured by a sniper positioned on higher ground. “He (the sniper) was taken out, but our young soldier was injured.”
Pictures of terrorists killed during the operation and the weapons and equipment they were using were also shown to the audience. Additionally, DG ISPR also showed video clips of soldiers during the operation itself, along with video messages from rescued hostages.
‘No intelligence failure’
Questioned if the attack represented an intelligence failure, the DG ISPR said that Balochistan presented a “very challenging intelligence environment”, adding that agencies were working round the clock to find leads and preempt attacks.
“I don’t agree with the term ‘intelligence failure’ because behind this are thousands of intelligence successes you don’t hear about—the incidents that never happened because our intelligence detected and neutralised them.”
26 passengers martyred
Giving a breakdown of the figures in the incident, the DG ISPR said 33 terrorists were killed, while the count of martyred passengers had been updated to 26 from the previous figure of 21.
He said 354 passengers were successfully identified and rescued, bringing the total passenger count to 380.
Questioned later on about the number of fatalities and discrepancies with figures reported in international media, DG ISPR reiterated that there were 26 fatalities with the potential for more since he said 37 of the 354 recovered hostages were injured.
Chaudhry added that 18 of the 26 martyred belonged to the army or FC, three were linked to the railways and other departments, while the remaining five were civilians.
He said the operational fatalities—those not aboard the train—included three FC personnel killed at the picket, one FC soldier martyred on Wednesday morning, and another stationed for security duty on the train.
Speaking about the rise in terrorism, the DG ISPR said the pace of implementation of the National Action Plan’s 14 points needed to be considered first.
He said law enforcement agencies conducted 59,775 intelligence-based operations, both major and minor, in 2024. So far in 2025, 11,654 IBOs have been carried out.
“This year, we are averaging 180 IBOs per day,” he added. Meanwhile, around 1,250 terrorists were “sent to hell” in 2024 and 2025, while 563 security personnel were martyred in the line of duty, he said.
‘Purely evil forces’
Taking over the press conference, CM Bugti denounced the attack on unarmed people, saying that the “so-called fight against the state” was a farce, saying it was driven by purely evil forces and that the perpetrators should only be referred to as “terrorists.”
“We’re in an intelligence-driven war waged against the state of Pakistan by RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) and other hostile agencies through Afghanistan, especially because Afghan soil is being used against us,” Bugti said.
Islamabad has repeatedly demanded that Kabul take action against the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist factions using Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan. Kabul denies the allegations.
Adding to the comment, the military’s media chief said the train incident was yet another that could be traced back to Afghanistan, noting that the terrorists remained in contact with their handlers there throughout.
“It is part of an ongoing process,” he said, adding that the groups involved were composed of Afghan nationals.
Echoing Chaudhry’s point, Bugti said the past policy of “appeasement” followed by some previous governments toward terrorist groups had allowed key figures to be released, enabling them to reestablish insurgent camps against the state.
Bugti said the security forces had the capacity and capability to “handle this mess very soon”, saying that such a surge was not a new thing.
In 2021, former prime minister Imran Khan had offered a general pardon to the TTP, provided the banned group laid down weapons. In 2023, Imran admitted that his government had planned to relocate at least 5,000 TTP fighters and their families, totaling around 35,000 people, but the plan fell through as provinces refused to bear the cost.
Missing persons a ‘dicey subject’
When asked about the link between terrorism and the issue of missing persons, CM Bugti called it a “dicey subject” that had been debated for a long time.
“It is dicey because the count itself is unclear. I don’t want to justify anything — if even one person is missing, there is no justification. But there is a major difference between enforced disappearance and self-disappearance,” he added.
In January this year, a report submitted to the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIOED) stated that 379 missing persons cases had been filed with the commission in 2024.
The commission reported receiving 10,467 cases by December 2024, with 8,216 disposed of, including 6,599 traced and 1,617 closed.
Of the resolved cases, 4,613 people returned home, 1,011 were in internment centres, 687 were in prisons, and 288 were found dead.
The December progress report, dated January 1, recorded 29 new cases and 44 disposals—10 unrelated to enforced disappearances, 23 returned home, five in internment centres, four in jails, and two found dead.
Call for national unity
A day ago, a high-level security conference was held in Quetta, reaffirming the state’s resolve to counter any attempt to destabilise Pakistan with full force. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir, federal and provincial ministers, senior civil and military officials, and representatives of political parties attended the meeting, according to state-run Radio Pakistan.
Following the moot, PM Shehbaz, in a press conference, urged national unity and called on Pakistan’s political leadership to sit together with the military to discuss the challenges facing the country.
A National Assembly session was also held on Thursday, during which Defence Minister Khawaja Asif assailed the PTI for “politicising” the hijacking incident and “misinterpreting” the situation on social media.
The attack drew widespread condemnation from different countries, including China, the United States, Iran, and Germany.
BLA attacks
Balochistan has witnessed an uptick in terrorist attacks over the past year. In November 2024, at least 26 people were killed and 62 injured after a suicide blast ripped through a Quetta Railway Station.
In 2024, the banned BLA emerged as a key perpetrator of terrorist violence in Pakistan, according to a report by Islamabad-based think tank Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS).
In August last year, dozens of militants affiliated with BLA launched numerous attacks across the province, in which at least 50 people, including 14 security men, lost their lives. In response, security forces had neutralised 21 militants.
Earlier that month, then-Panjgur deputy commissioner Zakir Baloch was shot dead on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway, with CM Bugti stating that the BLA was the group behind it.
In October 2024, a suicide bombing near Karachi airport killed two Chinese nationals and a Pakistani citizen, for which two BLA suspects were sent to jail on judicial remand while a probe body was formed as well.
The group also claimed responsibility for the Quetta railway suicide bombing in November last year, in which at least 26 people, including 16 security personnel, lost their lives, and 61 others were injured.
Pakistan designated the BLA as a terrorist organisation in April 2006 after the group repeatedly attacked security personnel.
In January this year, a former BLA member said during a press conference that the banned group “brainwashed average citizens into thinking a certain way about Balochistan and resorting to terrorist activities.”
Last month, the BLA claimed responsibility for an attack in Balochistan’s Barkhan, where seven Punjab-bound passengers were offloaded from a bus and shot dead.
In earlier grand-scale hijackings in the country, one that particularly comes to mind was in 1994, when three armed militants from Afghanistan took control of a school bus near Peshawar and took around 70 children hostage. The bus was driven to the Embassy of Afghanistan in Islamabad, where units of elite commandoes gunned them down the next day.
