‘Will take on terrorists, enablers both inside and outside country’: Pakistan Army on Jaffar Express hijacking

ISLAMABAD: Following the Jaffar Express train hijacking by Baloch Rebel groups, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General, Lt General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, said that terrorists along with their enablers and facilitators, would be challenged both inside and outside the country, Dawn reported.

Addressing a press conference on the incident, Chaudhary said, “Terrorists will be dealt with as they deserve, as those who drag innocent people out of buses and slaughter them, a group that divides people by ethnicity, have no connection to Baloch [ethnicity] or Islam.”

“We will deal with them as they deserve. We will take them on, their facilitators, their abettors, whether inside Pakistan or outside Pakistan,” he added.

Meanwhile, Baloch rebels have claimed to kill 214 hostages and blamed Pakistan’s “stubbornness” and “avoidance of negotiations” despite a 48-hour ultimatum.

Jeeyand Baloch, Spokesperson for the Baloch Liberation Army, a Baloch rebel organisation, said in a statement that despite an ultimatum given to the Pakistani forces, they did not heed to it, resulting in the death of 214 hostages.

“Baloch Liberation Army had given the Pakistani army a 48-hour ultimatum to exchange prisoners of war, which was the last chance for the occupying army to save the lives of its personnel.

However, Pakistan, displaying its traditional stubbornness and military arrogance, not only avoided serious negotiations but also turned a blind eye to the ground realities. As a result of this stubbornness, all 214 hostages have been executed,” the statement claimed.

The rebel organisation further claimed that they have always acted as per the international law, but the stubbornness of Pakistan forced them to act thus.

“BLA has always acted in accordance with the principles of war and international law, but the Pakistani state preferred to use its personnel as fuel for war instead of saving their lives. The enemy had to pay the price for this stubbornness in the form of the execution of 214 personnel,” as per the statement.

On Thursday, ISPR Pakistan DG Lt. Gen. Sharif Chaudhry said that the Jaffar Express clearance operation, launched after the train’s hijacking in Balochistan, was complete. He added that all rebels, 33 in all, at the site of the attack had been killed. (ANI)