Online Desk: The army on Friday traced a strong nexus between India, the terrorist group and its handlers operating from Afghanistan via satellite phones behind the hijacking of Jaffer Express. Lt-Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the chief military spokesperson, shared details of the train incident, in a news conference alongside Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director general screened several AI-generated, fake and old video clips that were aired by India’s mainstream media, primarily provided by an internationally recognised terrorist group, to glorify the hijacking and build an anti-Pakistan narrative by spreading misinformation.
He also briefed the media about the difficult and mountainous terrain surrounding the incident site near Sibi, using a map slide, and the operation conducted by the security forces, as a result of which the hijackers were killed and the hostages were rescued in a precise and successful operation. According to the ISPR DG, 354 passengers of Jaffar Express were rescued. Twenty-six people were martyred, while 37 were left injured. No passengers remain in terrorists’ captivity. He said it was a rugged terrain, kilometers away from the road and population, with no mobile coverage, where physically reaching the site was a very difficult task.
However, the ISPR DG said, personnel of the FC and the army responded to the terrorist activity without any undue delay after the hijackers blew up a railway track with an IED and martyred three soldiers at an FC picket before hijacking the train on March 11. Lt General Ahmed Sharif said the terrorists were divided into multiple groups and had occupied the heights, taking a group of passengers hostage inside the train while the rest were held outside. He added that, at the same time, an information warfare campaign was underway, led by the Indian media to glorify the incident, which was inhumane, as innocent people were made hostages and targeted.
He informed that terrorists had released a group of hostages selected on the basis of ethnic profiling, adding terrorists have nothing to do with humanity, nor with Pakistan, nor with Islam. On the morning of March 12, he said FC and army personnel first engaged the terrorists with ground-based snipers and took them out, which provided a chance to some of the hostages to sneak out from the captivity. “When terrorists were engaged, a group gets a chance, and they started running towards multiple directions. This is because, the snipers engage them,” he added.
