Ancient Peoples' Demands of Ancestral Land Relinquished for Sovereign Recognition
"[I initially] fought together with other police officers [to try and hold off the militants until] the ammunition ran out.""They [the BLA -- Balochistan Liberation Army] were moving in front of us on the mountain and they were much more numerous than us, in the hundreds.""[With me were four railway police and two members of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC).]""I told my companion to give me the G-3 rifle because it is a better weapon. When I got the rifle and the rounds, we also started firing back. I used to fire one shot at a time at them so that they could not come near us and the train... [But] in an hour-and-half, our rounds were over... We were helpless.""They started checking cards and telling people to go this way, this way, [the hostages were separated into groups alongside the train, according to their ethnicity].""[The militants were receiving orders] They would get orders to kill, and they would pick up people from the group and kill them. They killed many people - both army personnel and civilians."Railway Police Officer
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| More than 400 people were on the train when it was attacked AFP |
Armed insurgents attacked a passenger train in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday in a scene of violent chaos. There were 440 passengers on the train, 21 of whom were killed by members of the separatist Baloch Liberation Army group before Pakistani security forces arrived to counter the assailants, and in the crossfire 33 of the attackers were killed, the passengers rescued.
No passengers died because of the rescue operation, according to Information Minister Attaullah Tarar; the operation "has successfully reached its logical conclusion". He praised the military for "averting a potential catastrophe".
Three soldiers stationed there and guarding the railway track were also killed in the attack on Tuesday. The Baloch Liberation Army were quick to claim responsibility for the train attack that some news reports stated took place in a tunnel in a remote part of Balochistan. Survivors contradicted the stated venue, claiming the attack took place in the open, before the train entered the tunnel.
According to the BLA, the group had been prepared to free passengers as long as authorities agreed with their demand that jailed BLA militants be released. Pakistani security forces are regular targets of the BLA which has also attacked civilians. Chinese nationals among thousands working on multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects in Balochistan have been frequent targets.
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The attacked train had been travelling from Quetta to the northern city of Peshawar when the militants blew up the tracks which forced the engine and nine coaches to come to a shuddering halt. Hostages' lives would be at risk should the government fail to negotiate, the BLA attackers warned.
Balochistan is the largest and least populated province in Pakistan. The ethnic Baloch minority claiming discrimination and exploitation by the central government demand, much like the Kurds in Kurdistan, that their ancient heritage territory be recognized as sovereign, their territorial homeland. Balochistan is a territory rich in natural resources such as oil and minerals.
Bordering Iran and Afghanistan, Balochistan has hosted a long-running insurgency with separatists demanding greater autonomy from the Islamabad government, and a larger share of the natural resources of the region. On either side of the Iran-Pakistan border insurgencies have impacted both countries whose governments each claim the other supports separatist groups.
The Pakistan military has become vulnerable to attacks with their frequent use of trains to travel from Quetta, capital of Balochistan, to other parts of the country. A train station in Quetta was attacked in November, when the BLA carried out a suicide bombing, which killed 26 travellers.
Labels: Balochistan, Balochs, Inheritance, Pakistan, Violent Separatism
posted by Pieface @ Friday, March 14, 2025
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