The president of Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI), Barríster Gohar, praised the appropriate actions of the security forces to avoid a great disaster in the Jaffar Express attack, comparing it with the devastating attack against the public school of the army (PSPs) in Peshawar.
In statements to the media outside the court, Gohar declared that the attack could have been as catastrophic as the tragedy of the PHC, but the security forces prevented it successfully, Express News reported.
He praised the role of the forces to avoid a disaster.
Gohaha also discussed PTI’s efforts to negotiate with the government. He said that PTI had formed a committee on December 4 to initiate conversations, and that subsequent meetings were held in December and January. PTI made two lawsuits to the government, which were presented in writing after the government asked. However, Gohar said that the government did not act on negotiation opportunities.
He also criticized the government’s management of the situation of the founder of PTI Imran Khan, saying that no one from the government has been allowed to meet him for six months. “This is a violation of judicial orders and human rights,” he added.
When commenting on the recent actions of the Pakistan Army, Gohar praised the Director General of Public Relations between Services (ISPR) by an informative press conference and reiterated the vital role of security forces in the prevention of a greater tragedy.
Yesterday, the Lieutenant General of ISPR, Ahmed Sharif, said that India is the main sponsor of terrorism in Baluchistan, after the recent attack against the Express Jaffer. He added that the Indian media distributed videos generated by AI and transmitted content that misrepresented the actions of the terrorists.
His comments arrived during a joint press conference in Islamabad on Friday, where he was accompanied by Baluchistan Prime Minister Sarfraz Bugti. They provided details about the attack against Jaffer Express, which was attacked by separatist militants from the Baloch Liberation Army (Bla).
The train, on the route of Quetta to Peshawar, was attacked in the Dhadar region of the Bolan Paso, with more than 400 passengers taken as hostages. The security forces successfully rescued the hostages and neutralized all the assailants in a later operation.
According to DG ISPR, the attack began when the train was arrested by an improvised explosive device (FDI) at approximately 1 pm in a mountainous area. Before this, the militants had attacked a border body control (FC), killing three soldiers.
“Bla militants were placed in multiple groups, even in the surrounding hills,” he explained. “They took passengers as hostages, separating women and children inside the train while accompanying the remaining hostages to several places outside.”
The military official also revealed that on the night of March 11, a group of hostages was released under the pretext of the ethnic group, further feeding tensions and division.
He described the rescue operation that followed, detailing how the security forces surrounded the area on March 12, involving a shooting with the militants. Some hostages could escape during exchange. He stressed that, notably, not a single hostage was killed during the operation, which he acclaimed as one of the most successful anti -terrorism operations in recent years.
“This was the most successful hostage rescue operation in global history, considering the land and the presence of suicidal terrorists in the area,” he said. “Despite the challenges, our forces executed the mission with precision and minimum casualties.”
