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Pakistan Train Hijack: Baloch rebels have been fighting the Pakistani state for decades after Islamabad failed to check police brutality and push developmental projects in the region.
A paramilitary soldier frisks motorbike riders, a day after separatist Baloch militants conducted deadly attacks, on the outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan. (IMAGE: REUTERS)
Pakistan Jaffar Express Train Hijack: Baloch militants held train passengers hostage in a remote, mountainous area of Balochistan province. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of over 450 passengers which included women and children.
The BLA said if attempts are made to rescue the hostages there will be “severe consequences”. According to several media outlets, the incident happened on Tuesday afternoon near Sibi province.
Baloch Rebels Hijack Train In Pakistan: Catch LIVE Updates Here
The Baloch rebels have carried out several attacks on Pakistani forces, infrastructure and have also targeted Chinese engineers working in the region, claiming that outsiders are profiting from the region’s wealth.
The rebels want to carve out a nation for themselves out of Pakistan and claim that they are doing so because the Pakistani state has carried out several attacks on Baloch residents.
Forced disappearances is also one of the reasons why Baloch rebels are demanding a separate nation. The residents of Balochistan have earlier claimed that they are subject to ethnic profiling.
A report by French news agency Le Monde citing the UN said that as on January 2024, the UN Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances reported a total of 10,078 enforced disappearances in Pakistan since 2011, with 2,752 cases from Balochistan.
The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) claims that around 5,228 Baloch people went missing between 2001 and 2017.
Balochistan is in southwestern Pakistan and makes up about 44% of the country’s land area, but only 6% of Pakistan’s 240 million people live there.
The province shares borders with Iran and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and has a long coastline along the Arabian Sea.
The Baloch people are the largest ethnic group, followed by the Pashtuns. The province is named after the Baloch tribe, which has lived there for centuries.
Balochistan is rich in natural resources like gas and minerals and plays a key role in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
As part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, the region has a deep-sea port in Gwadar, near the Gulf of Oman.
Since Pakistan took control of Balochistan in 1948, the region has seen several uprisings, fueled by anger over political neglect, economic exploitation and cultural suppression.
Despite its rich reserves of natural gas, coal, copper, and gold, Balochistan remains the poorest province in the country. Government data released by the Pakistani government shows that its contribution to Pakistan’s economy is far less than what its resources should allow and the people here earn much less than the national average.
Recent Attacks On Army
Pakistan, which has been facing an economic crisis as well as a political crisis since 2023, has seen a wave of attacks on Pakistani forces. Attacks have been led by separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), United Baloch Army (UBA), the Pakistan Taliban and other militant groups, who have taken advantage of the economical and political uncertainty, over the past few years.
Baloch rebels are also angered because Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), a committee which calls for peaceful demonstrations for Baloch rights, faced police brutality when they took out marches to Gwadar and Islamabad last year.
They also demanded that the Pakistani government allow activist Mahrang Baloch to leave the country to attend a seminar organised by the Time magazine in New York and were angered when she was not allowed to leave the country in October last year.
Anger Over China
Chinese projects in the area have also angered Baloch residents who claim that cellphone towers being installed in the region are being used for surveillance purposes. They claimed on several occasions that these are used to spy on Baloch youth.
Critics say that the CPEC mainly benefits the central government in Islamabad and Chinese investors, while doing little to address the needs and hopes of the local people.
For years, Balochistan’s rich natural resources have been taken away without fair compensation or efforts to improve the lives of its people. The CPEC has only made things worse, as large projects have harmed the environment and forced communities to leave their homes. Mining and construction have destroyed forests, reduced farmlands and polluted water sources, leaving locals struggling to sustain their way of life.
Google Searches On The Train Hijack
As news of the Jaffar Express Train hijack broke, netizens in India took to Google to know more about the developments. ‘Balochistan’ remained high on Google Searches starting 4pm on Tuesday, peaking at 9:06pm.
Most searches came from J&K, Delhi and Karnataka.
Netizens also searched for ‘pakistan balochistan’, ‘pakistan’, ‘balochistan map’, ‘balochistan army’, and ‘balochistan news’.
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