Pakistan News
‘Killed in front of our eyes’: How the Pakistan train hijacking unfolded
Mehboob Hussain was riding the train home on Tuesday when the tracks under the front car exploded.
In the depths of central Pakistan’s Bolan Pass, a pocket of wilderness so remote that there is no internet or mobile network coverage, the nine-coach Jaffar Express ground to a halt. Then the bullets started flying.
“I was a passenger on the train that was attacked,” Mr Hussain told BBC Urdu.
He, along with some 440 others, had been travelling from Quetta to Peshawar through the heart of the restive Balochistan province when a group of armed militants struck – they bombed the tracks, fired on the train and then stormed the carriages.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) quickly claimed responsibility for the siege, and threatened to kill many of those on board if Pakistani authorities did not release Baloch political prisoners within 48 hours.
The group, which many countries have designated a terrorist organisation, has waged a decades-long insurgency to gain independence for Balochistan, accusing Islamabad of exploiting the province’s rich mineral resources while also neglecting it.
BLA militants have a long history of attacking military camps, railway stations and trains in the region.
But this was the first time they had hijacked one.
The siege lasted over 30 hours. According to authorities, 300 passengers have now been freed, and 33 BLA militants, 21 civilian hostages and four military personnel were killed. But conflicting figures suggest many passengers remain unaccounted for.
Information relating to the attack and the subsequent rescue operation has been tightly controlled throughout.
But the BBC was able to speak tomultiple eyewitnesseses who described the “doomsday scenes” on board the train as the attack unfolded.
As Ishaq Noor told BBC Urdu of those first few moments: “We held our breath throughout the firing, not knowing what would happen next.”
A gunfight
A railway police officer who was on board the train told BBC Urdu that, contrary to initial reports from Pakistani authorities, the train was “not in a tunnel but in an open area” when it was hit.
The BLA has also released an alleged video of the moment the train was struck by the blast. It shows an open section of track that runs along the base of a large rocky slope.
Atop that slope, according to the video, is a cluster of BLA fighters.
The officer described to the BBC how he initially “fought together with other police officers” to try and hold off the militants until “the ammunition ran out”.
“They [the BLA] were moving in front of us on the mountain and they were much more numerous than us, in the hundreds,” the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, recalled. He noted that he was accompanied by four railway police and two members of Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC).
At least 100 of those on the train were members of the security forces, according to Pakistani officials.
“I told my companion to give me the G-3 rifle because it is a better weapon,” the officer explained. “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.”
When the gunfire from those on board the Jaffar Express ceased, the militants came down from the surrounding mountains and started taking passengers off the train, the officer said.
“They started checking cards and telling people to go this way, this way,” he said, explaining that the hostages were separated into groups alongside the train, according to their ethnicity.
The militants were speaking in the Balochi language, he added, and declared, “We have made demands to the government and if they are not met, we will not spare anyone; we will set the vehicle on fire”.
The officer claimed 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.”
The first release
Some passengers, however, were allowed to leave unharmed – including women, children, the elderly and those who lived in Balochistan, according to Mr Noor.
Among those released was Noor Muhammad. He said that when the initial volleys of gunfire stopped after an hour, armed men forced open the door to the train and entered, saying “get out or we will shoot you”.
Mr Muhammad said he was escorted off the train, and when he told the militants his wife was still in the back of the car, they brought her out too. Then they “told us to go straight and not look back”.
The couple walked through the wilderness, he said, and with “great difficulty” reached Panir Railway Station at about 1900, where they rested.
His wife recalled the moment the Pakistan military arrived to meet them.
“They told me, ‘ma’am, come inside with us, we will take you home safely,'” she said. The soldiers took the couple to the town of Machh, she added, “and then we reached Quetta to our children, who were waiting for us”.
Some passengers who managed to leave the train late on Tuesday evening said they walked for nearly four hours to reach the next railway station. They included Muhammad Ashraf, who had been riding the train to Lahore to visit his family.
“We reached the station with great difficulty,” he told BBC Urdu, “because we were tired and there were children and women with us.”
Shots in the night
As night descended over the Jaffar Express, scores of BLA militants began to depart, according to the police official who did not wish to named.
“Many of them hugged each other and 70, 80 people left while 20, 25 stayed behind,” he said.
At about 10pm, he recalled, violence erupted again.
“Some people tried to run away, they [the BLA] saw them and opened fire, then everyone fell to the ground,” the official said.
Mr Mehboob similarly recalled gunfire throughout the night – and said that at one point, a person close to him, who had five daughters, was shot.
“When someone is killed in front of your eyes, you don’t know what to do,” he said.
Another passenger, Allahditta, said his cousin was killed in front of him by the BLA. He said his cousin was pleading to the militants to not kill him as he had young daughters but “his life was not spared”.
The BBC on Wednesday saw dozens of wooden coffins being loaded at Quetta railway station. A railway official said they were empty and being transported to collect casualties.
Morning escape
It was during the time of morning prayer on Wednesday that rescuers from the FC started firing on the BLA militants, Mr Allahditta said.
Amid the sudden chaos, he and others broke free.
“When the FC opened fire at the time of the Fajr call to prayer, we escaped from the militants,” Mr Allahdita said.
The police official similarly recalled the moment when the FC moved in, briefly diverting the BLA militants’ focus away from the hostages.
“When the FC arrived in the morning, the attention of these people turned to this direction,” the official said. “I told my companion, ‘Let’s try to run away.'”
Militants fired on the escapees as they fled, and the official said his companion was hit from behind.
“He told me to let go of him. I said no, I’ll carry you on my shoulder. Then another person also joined hands and we went down the hills and out of firing range.”
Mr Mehboob, Mr Allahdita, the police official and his companion all managed to escape the Jaffar Express alive as the FC attacked the militants.
Military and paramilitary troops and helicopters had surrounded the stranded train since Tuesday. On Wednesday, they killed the hostage-takers and cleared the site, according to a military spokesperson.
Authorities said there were 440 passengers on the train – and 300 of them have been freed. But it’s still unclear what happened to the remaining 140. Reuters and AFP quoted an unnamed security official who said some miliants had left, taking an unknown number of passengers with them.
The military says it is still working to find passengers who escaped and fled into the surrounding area, and insists that any others involved in the hijacking would be brought to justice.
Mr Noor, who is now distributing alms and charity in his hometown along with his wife, is just grateful to have escaped the situation with his life.
“Thank God,” Mr Noor said. “He saved us.”
Taken From BBC News
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Wednesday reviewed the progress against poliovirus, noting that Sindh had reduced its polio burden from 23 cases in 2024 and nine in 2025 to just one case so far in 2026. However, environmental surveillance showed that the virus is still present in a few high-risk areas.
Chairing a meeting of the Provincial Task Force (PTF) on Polio Eradication, the CM reaffirmed the government’s commitment to eliminating the disease and directed authorities to intensify vaccination, surveillance and community engagement efforts ahead of the September 21-27 Sub-National Immunisation Days (SNIDs) campaign.
“The progress achieved by Sindh is encouraging and reflects the hard work of our health workers, district administrations and partner organisations, but our mission will only be completed when every child is protected, and the virus is eliminated from every district,” said Murad Ali Shah.
“No child should remain unvaccinated due to negligence, weak supervision or lack of follow-up.”
Reviews preparations for week-long campaign beginning on 21st
The meeting, held at CM House, was attended by Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, chief secretary Asif Hyder Shah, Mayor of Karachi Murtaza Wahab, IG Police Sindh Javed Alam Odho, commissioner of Karachi Hassan Naqvi, provincial secretaries, provincial coordinator of Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) Shaharyar Gul, Sindh government partners, and deputy commissioners. From other districts, commissioners, DIGs, deputy commissioners and SSPs participated via video link.
Briefing the meeting, Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said Pakistan’s wild poliovirus (WPV1) cases have declined sharply from 74 in 2024 to 31 in 2025 and only three so far in 2026. Sindh has recorded a single case this year, reported from Sujawal on February 10, compared to nine cases last year and 23 in 2024.
In-charge of EOC Shaharyar Gul informed the chief minister that environmental surveillance data shows a significant reduction in virus circulation across the province. The number of positive environmental surveillance sites has fallen from a peak of 29 in March 2025 to only five in August 2026. Outside Karachi, all 14 surveillance sites are currently negative, while six of Karachi’s 15 sites remain positive, indicating that transmission is increasingly confined to limited pockets of the city.
The meeting participants were told that the absence of confirmed polio cases in Karachi during the 2025 high-transmission season, despite some positive environmental samples, reflects stronger population immunity achieved through routine immunisation and repeated vaccination campaigns.
Chief secretary Asif Hyder Shah said that sustained immunisation efforts have helped prevent clinical cases even where environmental surveillance continues to detect virus circulation.
Expressing satisfaction over the declining trend, the chief minister directed all commissioners, deputy commissioners and district health authorities to adopt a zero-tolerance approach towards missed children, refusals and operational gaps.
Reviewing surveillance findings, he ordered intensified vaccination and monitoring efforts in Karachi and other identified high-risk areas, full implementation of the Karachi Action Plan 2.0, stronger coordination among district administrations and health authorities, closer monitoring of migrant and mobile populations and improved routine immunisation coverage in underserved communities.
EOC coordinator Shaharyar Gul reported that nearly three million oral polio vaccine (OPV) doses and 2.89 million booster doses were administered in Karachi, while campaigns in other divisions delivered approximately 2.7 million OPV doses and 2.58 million booster doses. Expanded-age vaccination strategies helped reach older children through schools and community-based interventions.
The chief minister appreciated the efforts of frontline workers, teachers, community mobilisers and health staff working in remote and hard-to-reach areas, describing them as the backbone of the eradication programme.
The task force was informed that after the July 2026 SNIDs campaign, a special 10-day follow-up drive was launched to vaccinate children who had initially been missed. Of 146,149 missed children, more than 23,500 were subsequently vaccinated through targeted efforts focused on refusals and unavailable children.
Mr Shah directed district administrations to further reduce refusal rates through stronger community engagement and public awareness campaigns, emphasising that building trust with parents remains critical to the success of the programme.
The meeting reviewed preparations for the September 21-27 SNIDs campaign, during which nearly 10 million children under five will be vaccinated across Sindh. The campaign will cover 23 full districts and selected union councils in seven partial districts, with more than 80,000 frontline workers participating.
Officials said over 26,000 police personnel have been assigned security duties. The chief minister reiterated the provincial government’s financial support for the campaign and noted that incentives for frontline workers had been increased by 28 per cent.
He directed all districts to complete remaining preparedness measures, including vaccine supply, logistics, workforce deployment and supervision arrangements, before the campaign begins.
The chief minister also reviewed campaign quality indicators and was informed that Sindh has continued to maintain strong performance standards while pursuing key reforms in routine immunisation, surveillance, staffing and community engagement.
Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2026
• Petroleum dealers lament lack of clarity on payment mechanism, timeline
• PM wants facilitation desks to help people trying to buy subsidised fuel
• Ogra attributes hike to elevated crude prices despite decline in int’l rates
ISLAMABAD: Even as members of the public who have signed up for the PM’s Fuel Relief Scheme queued up at fuel pumps late on Wednesday night, petroleum dealers were still not clear about the mechanism whereby they would be compensated.
The concern was voiced by the Pakistan Petroleum Dealers Association (PPDA) during a presser in Karachi, where its chairman Malik Khuda Bakhsh said that no fuel pump could afford to bear a loss of Rs100 per litre without clarity on how they will be compensated.
He claimed that between the petroleum ministry, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and even the finance ministry, no one had been able to answer their questions.
“Officials from Ogra and oil marketing companies say that the petroleum ministry will possibly pay the subsidy amount, whereas ministry officials maintain that payments will be made by the finance ministry, while finance ministry officials assure us that the State Bank will release the funds in a day or two,“ Mr Bakhsh added.
A day earlier, the National Steering Committee on Fuel Subsidy — chaired by Deputy PM Ishaq Dar — had ordered that payments to fuel stations under the PM’s scheme be processed within 24 hours through the State Bank of Pakistan.
However, Mr Bakhsh said the federal government had assured dealers that they would be taken into confidence before the launch of the fuel relief package, but lamented that no such consultation took place.
”The government has to understand that if payments are not reimbursed in time, many dealers will stop participating in [the scheme], as many previous promises were also not fulfilled by the government,” he added.
PPDA Vice Chairman Tariq Hassan said that around 14,000 dealers across the country have been trying desperately to contact the government over the past three days, adding that whenever Islamabad wants to enforce something, it stops communication.
Another vice chairman, Anwar Kamal, said that if the scheme was to be successful, the government must negotiate with dealers, adding that dealers could not afford to have billions tied up for a long period under this scheme.
Mr Bakhsh later told Dawn they had been invited to a virtual meeting with the relevant federal secretary on Thursday morning.
He added that Ogra officials had also reached out to brief him, but he had asked for that information in writing, so he could relay that to the members of his association.
Facilitation desks
Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered authorities to set up facilitation desks comprising administration officials, volunteers and petrol pump staff to assist citizens in easily obtaining fuel subsidy under the special relief scheme, which was rolled out across the country at Wednesday midnight, following the launch of the pilot phase in Islamabad.
Presiding over a meeting to review progress on the scheme, PM Shehbaz directed that personnel deployed at the facilitation desks should guide eligible citizens and provide them with all possible assistance in registration and other necessary procedures.
The prime minister also asked the relevant authorities to remain proactive in creating public awareness about the scheme, which will benefit people from all four provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The meeting was informed that the scheme had been designed in a simple and easy-to-understand manner for the public. Only four pieces of information were required for registration: the applicant’s CNIC number, vehicle number plate, province of registration and vehicle registration date.
According to an official, the number of successful registrations was gradually rising, while provincial governments were extending “full cooperation” for nationwide implementation of the scheme.
Oil prices
Meanwhile, notifying fresh POL rates on Wednesday night, Ogra attributed the steep hikes to elevated international crude oil and petroleum product prices.
The price of high-speed diesel was increased by Rs5.62 per litre to Rs421.45, while petrol became costlier by Rs6.88 per litre, taking its new price to Rs391.22 per litre.
Brent crude futures fell $2.92, or 2.7 per cent, to settle at $105.83 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate futures fell $3.40, or 3.2pc, to close at $102.43, Reuters reported.
Saudi Arabia is offering more loadings of crude oil to Asian refiners via ship-to-ship transfers off Oman’s Sohar port, people familiar with the matter said, blunting some of the hit to global supply from attacks on the country’s East-West pipeline to the Red Sea.
Oil prices had gained more than $3 in the previous session after shipping industry sources said crude loadings at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea export hub of Yanbu had been suspended and Riyadh had cancelled some cargo deliveries to European customers.
The suspension followed strikes on the East-West pipeline, which feeds the Saudi port of Yanbu. It became the main Saudi outlet for oil exports after Iran began blockading the Strait of Hormuz after US and Israeli attacks on the country.
Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2026
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China on Wednesday operationalised a long pending joint mechanism for managing their common border, with Islamabad describing the move as a significant milestone in bilateral relations and a step toward closer coordination on border management, trade and cross-border connectivity.
“The inaugural meeting of the Commission was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
The meeting was co-led by Li Ya, deputy director general of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs at China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Bilal Mahmood Chaudhary, director general for China at Pakistan’s Foreign Office.
The FO described the operationalisation of the Pakistan-China Boundary Joint Commission as a “significant milestone for Pakistan-China relations”, saying it would set “the stage for enhanced cooperation in border management, joint border surveys, trade flows and people to people connectivity.”
The commission has its origins in the 2013 Agreement on the Boundary Management System signed during the visit of then Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Islamabad. Article 45 of the agreement provides for establishment of the joint commission to oversee implementation of the border management arrangements.
The mechanism would provide an institutional framework for dealing with practical issues along the border, including maintenance and inspection of the boundary, joint surveys, boundary marker issues, management of cross-border facilities and handling of incidents involving the border.
Its activation also gives the two countries a mechanism for regular coordination on a border that is important for movement between Pakistan and China, including through the Khunjerab crossing, and for trade and connectivity linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The new commission is distinct from the Joint Boundary Demarcation Commission that was established under the Sino-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of March 2, 1963. The earlier commission had a specific and essentially one time mandate to conduct surveys, establish boundary markers, prepare detailed maps and set out the alignment of the boundary.
Its work ended after the signing of the protocol and maps completing the demarcation process. The 1963 agreement was signed in Beijing by then-Pakistani foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his Chinese counterpart Chen Yi.
It also provided that, following a settlement of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, the relevant sovereign authority would reopen negotiations with China on the boundary.
The 2013 agreement, by contrast, established a continuing system for managing the already demarcated boundary, including provisions for dealing with boundary markers and cross-border infrastructure. The agreement says that if a marker cannot be restored at its original location, the joint commission can determine another suitable location, provided the boundary line itself is not altered.
India, which disputes the validity of the 1963 agreement and regards the territory covered by it as part of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, rejected the new mechanism.
“We have seen reports in this regard. Our position on this matter is clear and consistent. There is no boundary between Pakistan and China. We reject the so-called Joint Commission, which is without any legal basis,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said.
For Pakistan and China, however, the commission provides a new institutional arrangement for managing their border relationship and dealing with practical issues that have emerged since the 2013 agreement, while leaving the broader territorial positions of the parties unchanged.
Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2026
CM Murad asks authorities to boost polio vaccination across Sindh
Dealers await answers as fuel subsidy rollout begins
Islamabad, Beijing activate joint border commission
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