Calls related to Jaffar Express hijacking traced back to Afghanistan: FO

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said that Pakistan had evidence of calls related to the Jaffar Express hijacking incident being traced to Afghanistan but reaffirmed that it was India that was trying to “destabilise its neighboring countries”.

The hijack occurred on Tuesday afternoon when the train, travelling from Quetta to Peshawar and carrying 440 passengers, was ambushed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) terrorists. They opened fire on the train and held the passengers hostage, prompting the security forces to initiate an operation that lasted two days.

On Wednesday evening, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry confirmed that the operation had been concluded, with 33 terrorists present at the site of the attack neutralised. The ISPR chief also confirmed that 21 passengers and four Frontier Corps personnel lost their lives in the hijacking, but no hostages were harmed during the final rescue phase.

During a weekly press briefing today, Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan was questioned whether Pakistan had a shift in stance from India to Afghanistan over involvement in terrorist attacks on Pakistan.

In response, he said, “There is no shift in our policy. And again, the facts have not changed. India is involved in sponsoring terrorism against Pakistan. What I was referring to was, in this particular incident, we have evidence of calls being traced to Afghanistan. This is what I said.”

Khan added that Pakistan had been a victim of terrorism that was planned, orchestrated and sponsored by forces who were operating outside the country’s borders.

’In our region, unfortunately, we have many forces against peace who do not want to see Pakistan reap the dividends of its unprecedented and sincere efforts in counter-terrorism and in building a peaceful region,“ he said.

The spokesperson added that the terrorist attack against Jaffar Express was also “orchestrated and directed by terrorist ring leaders operating from abroad”.

“Our security forces successfully eliminated all 33 terrorists, including suicide bombers, while rescuing the hostages,” the spokesperson said.

“Terrorists were in direct communications with Afghanistan-based planners throughout the incident,” he said.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained due to frequent border skirmishes and Islamabad repeatedly demanding that Kabul take action against the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for using Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan. Kabul denies the allegations.

“Pakistan has repeatedly asked the interim Afghan government to deny the use of its soil for terrorist groups like BLA for their attacks against Pakistan,” he added.

The spokesperson urged Afghanistan to hold perpetrators, organisers, and financiers of this “reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and cooperate with the government” to bring all those who are concerned with this attack, including the real sponsors of terrorism, to justice.

“We know how India has been trying to destabilise its neighbouring countries,” he said, adding that India has been running a global assassination campaign.

Khan said that Pakistan’s basic approach towards Afghanistan centred on developing friendly, cooperative relations, which remained the key goal.

“We have long-standing relations with Afghanistan, and there are layers of complementarities between the two countries like language, history, cultural affinity, and religion, but the terrorism remains the core obstacle, which is preventing the relations to develop further,” he said.

He said that the relations between the two countries were dynamic and the state kept adjusting it, adding that the FO will brief on the details in the days to come.

“Regarding dialogue with Afghanistan, we do not have any high-level interaction, but embassies of both countries are working, and diplomatic channels are active,” he said.

He said that terrorist elements like TTP and other terrorist organisations enjoyed sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

“This remains a stumbling block, a serious problem on the way of promoting deeper friendly relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan,” he said.

“We have been pressing Afghan authorities to tackle and handle this problem, and we will continue to press them to take necessary actions in this regard,” he added.

During his presser yesterday, DG ISPR Lt Gen Chaudhry had also doubled down on the use of Afghan soil in the attack, saying: “Intelligence reports have unequivocally confirmed that the attack was orchestrated and directed by terrorist ring leaders operating from Afghanistan, who were in direct communication with the terrorists throughout the incident. Pakistan expects the Interim Afghan Government to uphold its responsibilities and deny use of its soil for terrorist activities against Pakistan.”

Pakistan has lately witnessed a surge in terrorist activities, particularly in Khyber Paktunkhwa and Balochistan. February saw a marginal increase in terrorist attacks but a sharp surge in civilian casualties, per a report published by the Islamabad-based think tank, Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).

According to PICSS, the country witnessed 79 terrorist attacks last month, resulting in the deaths of 55 civilians and 47 security personnel, while 45 civilians and 81 security personnel were injured. Security forces, meanwhile, intensified counter-terrorism operations, eliminating 156 terrorists, injuring 20, and arresting 66, it said.