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Pakistan’s military has accused neighbouring India of sponsoring militant groups in the south-west of the country as survivors recounted their ordeal from an unprecedented attack that killed 26 passengers on a hijacked train.
The scope of the attack in Balochistan province underscores the struggles that Pakistan faces to rein in militant groups.
In the attack on Tuesday, members of the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) ambushed a train in a remote area, took about 400 people onboard hostage and exchanged gunfire with security forces. The standoff lasted until late on Wednesday, when the army said 33 hijackers had been killed.
Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least populated province. Baloch residents have long accused the central government of discrimination – a charge Islamabad denies.
The attack on the train has drawn international condemnation, including from the US, China, Turkey, Iran and the UK. On Friday, the members of the UN security council said it “condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack”.
The council said in a statement: “The members of the security council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.”
At a news conference in Islamabad on Friday, army spokesperson Lt Gen Ahmad Sharif said “in this terrorist incident in Balochistan, and others before, the main sponsor is your eastern neighbour,” referring to India.
He offered no proof to support the accusation, which has been rejected by India. It was the first time the BLA – which has been fighting for independence and a greater share of the province’s resources – had hijacked a train, although it had attacked trains before.
Some attackers had escaped and a search operation was under way to find them, Sharif said. He also said most of the fatalities were security forces protecting the passengers and troops travelling to their home cities.
Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister of Balochistan, told reporters that Pakistan has “solid evidence” of India’s involvement in attacks. He did not share any specific information.
Sharif added that an Indian naval officer arrested in 2016 and convicted of espionage in Pakistan had worked for Indian intelligence to assist the Baloch separatists and other militant groups. The officer, identified as Kulbhushan Jadhav, has been sentenced to death. Sharif, however, did not link him directly to the latest train attack.
Pakistan and India are nuclear-armed rivals with a history of bitter relations. They have fought four wars since they gained independence in 1947 from Britain.
“We strongly reject the baseless allegations made by Pakistan,” India’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, said.
Earlier, Pakistan’s foreign ministry had claimed the train attack was orchestrated from Afghanistan, where the attackers had been in contact with handlers. Kabul denied the accusation and said the BLA had no presence there.
Pakistan has suspended all train services to and from Balochistan since Tuesday’s attack. Sharif Ullah, a railway official, said repairs to the tracks, which were blown up to stop the train, had not started.
Survivors have recounted their harrowing ordeal during the 36-hour hijacking.
Muhammad Farooq, from Quetta, the largest city in Balochistan, described how the BLA stopped the train and ordered passengers to disembark.
“They checked identity cards and started killing people who worked for the armed forces,” he said. Many passengers, he said, fled successfully while the hijackers were exchanging fire with Pakistani troops.
Mohammad Tanveer, who was travelling from Quetta to the eastern city of Lahore, said he was wounded but managed to escape. He said the attackers had been looking for members of the military and security forces, and started killing them in small groups, one after another.
Nair Husnain, a student, said he saw the militants go through the train, asking people to stand up and tying their hands before shooting them several times. They first killed soldiers, then minority Shias and Punjabis. Balochs were spared, he said.
He also recounted how a woman travelling with her three sons – all soldiers – had to watch as they were shot and killed.
“Those scenes are still before my eyes,” he said.
