2025 Jaffar Express Hijacking, Bolan Pass

Overview

On 11 March 2025, the Jaffar Express, a passenger train travelling from Quetta to Peshawar carrying at least 380 passengers, was hijacked by militants of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) roughly 32 kilometres from Sibi city, at Tunnel Number 8 near Mushkaf-Dhadar in Balochistan's Bolan Pass. The attackers detonated an improvised explosive device on the tracks, halting the train inside a mountainous, difficult-to-access stretch of terrain, and opened fire after killing three soldiers at a nearby paramilitary checkpoint.

The BLA issued a 48-hour ultimatum demanding the release of Baloch political prisoners, threatening to execute hostages if its demands were not met. Militants released a number of civilian hostages, including Balochistan residents, women, children, and the elderly, while continuing to hold passengers identified as government employees or security personnel. Pakistani security forces launched a large-scale counter-operation, designated Operation Green Bolan, which lasted approximately 36 hours and culminated in the rescue of 354 passengers and the deaths of most of the militants involved.

Attribution

The Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the hijacking, describing it as retaliation for the Pakistani state's treatment of Baloch political prisoners and its broader counter-insurgency operations in Balochistan. The BLA is a separatist militant group seeking independence for the Baloch people and has carried out a sustained campaign of attacks against Pakistani security forces, infrastructure, and Chinese nationals and interests in the province. Pakistani officials subsequently alleged that the hijackers received direction from "Afghan handlers" and an India-based mastermind, allegations that Afghanistan and India rejected.

Legal Proceedings

Pakistani authorities registered the hijacking as a major terrorism case and launched an investigation into the network that planned and financed the operation, in parallel with the military's after-action review of Operation Green Bolan. The scale of the operation, and the length of the standoff, prompted broader scrutiny of security along the railway line through Balochistan, a route that had previously been targeted in smaller-scale BLA attacks.

Context

The Jaffar Express hijacking marked a significant escalation in the long-running Baloch insurgency, representing one of the most complex and high-profile operations conducted by a Baloch separatist group to date. Chatham House described the episode as a "watershed" in the conflict, noting that the scale of the hostage-taking and the extended duration of the standoff exposed significant gaps in the security of Pakistan's rail infrastructure in Balochistan. The Diplomat similarly characterised the incident as evidence of the Pakistani state's struggling counter-insurgency strategy in the province, where the Balochistan Liberation Army and other separatist groups have sustained a decades-long campaign for greater autonomy or independence.

International Response

Of the total casualties from the incident, at least 26 passengers, railway staff, and security personnel were killed, including approximately 18 members of the army or paramilitary forces, three railway employees, and five civilian passengers; 33 BLA fighters were also killed during the security operation. The Pakistani government condemned the attack as an act of terrorism and reiterated its allegations of external support for the BLA, while human rights and security analysts noted the incident's significance as a marker of the Baloch insurgency's growing operational capacity.