Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Friday that terrorists and their enablers and facilitators would be challenged both inside and outside the country, as he held a press conference in Islamabad related to the Jaffar Express attack.<\/p>\n
The attack began on Tuesday afternoon when Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) terrorists ambushed the Peshawar-bound train carrying 440 passengers, opening fire and taking hostages. Security forces launched a two-day operation, concluding on Wednesday evening. Lt Gen Chaudhry confirmed that all 33 terrorists were neutralised, but no hostages were harmed in the final rescue phase. He also said the incident had changed the \u201crules of the game\u201d.<\/p>\n
During the presser \u2014 conducted alongside Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti \u2014 Lt Gen Chaudhry was asked whether there had been any changes or developments in the \u201crules\u201d since his statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cTerrorists 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will deal with them as they deserve. We will take them on, their facilitators, their abettors, whether inside Pakistan or outside Pakistan,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n
Key points:<\/p>\n
DG ISPR says terrorists, facilitators to be confronted in or out of Pakistan
\nSays India \u201cmain sponsor\u201d of terrorism in Balochistan
\nSays Afghan and foreign weapons used in recent attack and other incidents
\nSays count of fatalities has risen to 26, could rise further since 37 recovered hostages were injured
\nAdvises against calling such incidents \u201cintelligence failure\u201d
\nCM Bugti says RAW, other hostile agencies waging war via Afghanistan
\nLt Gen Chaudhry, who maintained that India was the main sponsor of terrorism in Balochistan, said the terrorists had used Afghan and foreign weapons in the recent incident and previous attacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must understand that in this terrorist incident in Balochistan, and others before, the main sponsor is your eastern neighbour (India).\u201d<\/p>\n
DG ISPR then criticised the Indian media for spreading propaganda about the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Indian media displayed fake footage of the incident to spread propaganda,\u201d he said, as he showed some video clips on a screen to prove his point.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey attempted to create a narrative by sharing AI-generated images and fake videos. They were leading an informational warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n
The DG ISPR said a \u201cnexus\u201d was working amid the situation to give legitimacy to the terrorists and their narrative.<\/p>\n
Showing various clips of Indian officials and personalities discussing efforts to destabilise Balochistan, the DG ISPR said the Jaffar Express attack was a \u201ccontinuation of the same policy\u201d.<\/p>\n
Most successful hostage operation
\nProviding details of the train attack and the ensuing rescue operation, he said that the terrorists had deliberately selected a remote location to conduct the attack where there were no telecommunication signals, adding that one group of hostages with women and children was kept inside the train, while the other travellers were brought outside and gathered on the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey operated in multiple groups, taking strategic positions on higher ground. After planting the improvised explosive device (IED), which disabled the train, they took the passengers hostage,\u201d he detailed.<\/p>\n
Lt Gen Chaudhry added that the terrorists had suicide bombers among their ranks.<\/p>\n
The military media chief gave a detailed breakdown of the operation, describing each step. \u201cWithin 36 hours, in a remote area with inaccessible terrain and the presence of suicide bombers, our soldiers, the air force and the FC (Frontier Corps) successfully conducted the operation with professionalism and bravery.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that the Special Services Group\u2019s Zarrar Company had arrived in the area by midday and was monitoring the terrorists from a distance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey carried out a situational assessment,\u201d he said. \u201cThey had to plan the operation very carefully because of suicide bombers, who could detonate their vests and kill the maximum number of people.\u201d<\/p>\n
DG ISPR said that Zarrar Company targeted the suicide bombers from a distance before moving in to secure the hostages, adding that the hostages, who were sitting in the open for 24 hours, took the opportunity to run to safety.<\/p>\n
The media chief showed the audience drone footage of people running from the train.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey ran in multiple directions, wherever they could go,\u201d he said, adding that once they were safe, Zarrar Company operators cleared the train, moving from the front engine to the rear bogie.<\/p>\n
Highlighting drone footage of the soldiers moving into the front engine, DG ISPR said, \u201cThey entered and cleared the front engine, killing any terrorists they encountered. They then cleared the whole train bogie by bogie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot even a single casualty was recorded among the hostages during this entire operation,\u201d DG ISPR highlighted. \u201cDespite their intentions, they (the terrorists) were unable to kill even a single hostage,\u201d he added, clarifying that some passengers had embraced martyrdom before the operation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of operations carried out on trains, this can very rightly be put out as the most successful hostage operation conducted,\u201d DG ISPR said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA group of hostages was released based on their ethnic affiliations. Just as the CM said it, these terrorists have nothing to do with being Baloch, being Pakistani or being a Muslim.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that there were logistical reasons for the terrorists to release some passengers since there were too many on the train for them to be able to control.<\/p>\n
He said the terrorists tried to create a \u201cfalse impression\u201d of humanitarian values by claiming they had released some hostages.<\/p>\n
DG ISPR further stated that a Zarrar Comapny soldier was injured by a sniper positioned on higher ground. \u201cHe (the sniper) was taken out, but our young soldier was injured.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pictures of terrorists killed during the operation and the weapons and equipment they were using were also shown to the audience. Additionally, DG ISPR also showed video clips of soldiers during the operation itself, along with video messages from rescued hostages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Friday that terrorists and their enablers and facilitators would be challenged both inside and outside the country, as he held a press conference in Islamabad related to the Jaffar Express attack. The attack began on Tuesday afternoon when Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6816"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6818,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6816\/revisions\/6818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}