A train in Pakistan was hijacked by separatist militants, where they blew up the railway track and hurled rockets at the Jaffar Express. This train carried 440 people ans was on its way to Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province from Balochistan’s capital of Quetta. This was held by the Baloch liberation army, who threatened to execute people unless authorities met its 48-hour deadline for the release of Baloch political prisoners, activists, and missing people it says had been abducted by the military. They are one of the armed ethnic terrorist groups who are fighting for a larger share in the regional wealth of mines and minerals that have been denied by the government. The Pakistani military forces stormed the train on Wednesday, starting the one day long standoff. They killed all 33 of the attackers and four troops were killed, and unfortunately around 21 hostages were also lost during this attack.
There are many groups that fight for resources and power around this region, causing major instability and loss of security. This group in particular is stepping up their activities to inflict high death and injury tolls and target Pakistan’s military. Pakistan is having to deal with stuff like this, and it could result in more and more loss of civilians and more. Pakistan is located near a shatterbelt, and it might get worse if things like this keep happening with several ethnic groups. The people from Balochistan don’t like the Pakistani government, and that is where this attack was from.
Pakistan is going to have to provide more security in their region for their people and country. I don’t know what they will do in response to this attack, but it seems like they were pretty shaken after it. It doesn’t seem like this militant group is going to back down against the Pakistani government, and this article mentioned that they are actually speeding it up. It seems like they will do anything for their group, even die.
Terrorism is a really big security threat, and Pakistan will have to decide which approach they will take to deal with this; unilateral or multilateral, and isolationist, interventionist, or cooperative. This ethnic militant group is a terrorist group, which is unconventional and where they purposefully attack places where civilians are in hopes to start a conflict or demoralize a population, in this case Pakistan and their government.