A bomb blast in Pakistan’s southwest provincial capital city of Quetta railway station on Saturday morning, November, left at least 24 people dead and 46 injured. The explosion happened around the time as the Sibi-bound Jafar Express train was at the station and led to utter chaos. It was a suicide blast carried out by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) which claimed responsibility for carrying out the attack. The blast spread debris all over the place and triggered panic among passengers and other people who were nearby, according to a report in Quetta Voice News.
Quetta Division Commissioner Hamza Shafqat confirmed the death toll, adding that the incident was a suicide blast. In the past too, there have been some suicide attacks by the Baloch rebels in various parts of the province. The highhandedness of Pakistani security forces and enforced disappearances are given as the main cause of restiveness in Balochistan. He further said that the administration was writing a letter to the railway authorities to suspend train services on this route for smooth rescue efforts.
Pakistan Railways had earlier suspended train services between Quetta and Peshawar from October 11 for 45 days. Train services across Pakistan had been suspended on August 26 after a bridge between Kolpur and Mach was destroyed in a blast carried out by BLA.
The administration declared an emergency in the local hospitals to manage the influx of casualties. The police and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel reached the site, trying to gather information regarding what had happened and conduct investigation.
Initial reports suggest that the explosion had occurred at the railway station’s booking office shortly before the train reached the platform. With the station typically crowded, it is likely that the toll will rise in the next few hours as situation becomes more clear. The rescue teams are working arrived at the blast site, while an emergency was declared at Quetta’s Civil Hospital, with extra doctors and support staff summoned to assist those injured in the blast.
All through Pakistan, the Federal government has declared a holiday today (November 9) in memory of the poet Iqbal.
The Jaffer Express was scheduled to depart for Peshawar at 9am, according to railway officials. The officials said that the train had not yet arrived at the platform when the explosion took place. Officials said that several of the injured were in critical condition.
In Balochistan, the Baloch rebels have often targeted people from other provinces, mainly Punjabis, and the Chinese workers in various China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. The rebels often term these projects as “exploitation of Balochistan’s resources by foreigners, including Pakistanis’’ and have asked the Chinese to leave the province. The repeated attacks have led to a situation wherein China has expressed unhappiness about the insecurity of their nationals.
Meanwhile, four Army personnel had died during an encounter in South Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to a statement of Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) issued on Thursday. The statement said that five rebels were also killed in the operation.
According to the statement, “During the intense fire exchange, four brave sons of the soil, Naib Subedar Taib Shah (38), Lance Naik Gulab Zaman (30), Lance Naik Muzammil Mehmood (30) and Lance Naik Habibullah (28), having fought gallantly, embraced” martyrdom.
Some months ago in July, the government, through an official notification, had designated Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as Fitna al Khwarij, asking all institutions to use the term kharji (outcast) when referring to the TTP cadres.
In the recent months, there has been a sharp rise in the number of attacks by TTP cadres and different Baloch rebel groups. In these attacks, security forces and their checkpoints have often seen suicide attacks, particularly in Balochistan and KP.
