Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that the country cannot progress until the menace of terrorism is eliminated from Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and called for working together to prevent train hijacking-like terror incidents.
“Pakistan will never progress until the development of Balochistan is at par with other provinces,” the premier said while addressing a high-level meeting on law and order situation in Quetta.
PM Shehbaz also paid tribute to Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir and the security forces for successfully recovering 339 Jaffar Express passengers who were taken hostage by the terrorists in Bolan area of the province.
“The terrorists who attacked the train did not even care about the sanctity of the holy month of Ramadan,” the premier added.
Stressing the need for joint efforts to deal with the terrorism, the premier said Pakistan cannot afford another such accident.
Lauding the unmatched sacrifices rendered by the security forces in the backdrop of Jaffar Express hijacking incident, PM Shehbaz said malicious propaganda against the soldiers and martyrs would not be tolerated.
The premier reached Quetta earlier today to express solidarity with the people and review the law and order situation following the aftermath of the deadly Jaffar Express hijacking incident.
The premier’s visit comes after security forces eliminated all 33 Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) terrorists who had hijacked the Jaffar Express which was carrying more than 400 passengers — who were taken hostage — on Tuesday.
A day earlier, announcing the completion of the around two-day-long operation, Director General Inter-Services Public Relations Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said the armed forces took part in the action against terrorist who “remained in contact with their facilitators and mastermind based in Afghanistan via satellite phone”.
Units from the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Special Services Group (SSG), Army, and Frontier Corps (FC) took part in the operation, the army’s spokesperson said.
Noting that all hostages had been freed, the military’s spokesperson revealed that 21 passengers were martyred by the terrorists before the clearance operation had commenced. Also, four FC personnel were also martyred during the attack in Mushqaf area of the Bolan district.
“Whoever did this will be hunted down and brought to justice,” said Lt Gen Chaudhry, adding that the suicide bombers — present near the hostages using them as human shields — were taken out by snipers.
Meanwhile, with emergency imposed in Sibi and Civil Hospital Quetta, at least 29 wounded in the Jaffar Express incident have been shifted to the provincial capital — of which 16 and 13 have been brought to the CMH and the Civil Hospital, respectively.
According to the hospital administration, the condition of the injured passengers is stable and they are out of danger. Also, 47 passengers have been shifted to Quetta from Mach.
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.
