KARACHI: Pakistan Railways has suspended train operations from the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta to other parts of the country for four days, it said on Sunday, a day after a deadly bombing at Quetta Railway Station killed more than two dozen people.
At least 26 people were killed and 64 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the crowded railway station early on Saturday morning in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, according to officials.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of separatist groups in Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest since a string of coordinated assaults on Aug. 25-26 in which more than 50 people, civilians and security officials, were killed in the region.
On Sunday, Aamir Ali Baloch, chief executive officer of Pakistan Railways, announced the suspension of train operations in view of security concerns and in the interest of passenger safety.
“Operations will resume as soon as clearance is granted,” Pakistan Railways said in a statement on Sunday night.
Train service from Quetta to other cities remained suspended for more than a month after separatist militants blew up a key bridge in the southwestern Balochistan province on August 26.
Built in 1887, the five-span bridge was the second such link constructed by the British Army at the Bolan Pass after reaching an agreement with the then Khan of Kalat, Meer Khuda-e-Dad Khan, to extend the railway network to Quetta and Chaman near the Afghan border.
Baloch said Pakistan Railways had successfully restored Quetta’s connection with the rest of the country and such incidents would not weaken their resolve. He said compensation would be provided to the families of the deceased and to the injured according to the railways insurance policy.
“Fifty injured individuals are currently being treated in trauma centers, where Pakistan Railways’ medical teams are present to provide care,” he said, commending the Quetta division team of railways for the immediate relief operations.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s most impoverished province where separatist militants have been fighting what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province’s mineral and gas wealth by the federation at the center. The province is home to major China-led investment projects such as a strategic port and a gold and copper mine.
The Pakistani government and military deny they are exploiting Balochistan and have long maintained that neighbors such as India, Afghanistan and Iran foment trouble in the remote province and support and fund the insurgency there to impede its development potential.
Pakistan Railways suspends Quetta train operations for four days after deadly bombing
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Pakistan Railways suspends Quetta train operations for four days after deadly bombing
- The suicide bombing at Quetta Railway Station killed 26 people and injured 64 others on Saturday morning
- This was the deadliest attack since coordinated assaults in August that killed over 50 people in Balochistan
Imran Khan not a ‘national security threat,’ ex-PM’s party responds to Pakistan military
- Pakistan’s military spokesperson on Friday described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat”
- PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan says words used by military spokesperson for Khan were “not appropriate”
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Saturday responded to allegations by Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry from a day earlier, saying that he was not a “national security threat.”
Chaudhry, who heads the military’s media wing as director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), spoke to journalists on Friday, in which he referred to Khan as a “mentally ill” person several times during the press interaction. Chaudhry described Khan’s anti-army narrative as a “national security threat.”
The military spokesperson was responding to Khan’s social media post this week in which he accused Chief of Defense Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir of being responsible for “the complete collapse of the constitution and rule of law in Pakistan.”
“The people of Pakistan stand with Imran Khan, they stand with PTI,” the party’s secretary-general, Salman Akram Raja, told reporters during a news conference.
“Imran Khan is not a national security threat. Imran Khan has kept the people of this country united.”
Raja said there were several narratives in the country, including those that created tensions along ethnic and sectarian lines, but Khan had rejected all of them and stood with one that the people of Pakistan supported.
PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan, flanked by Raja, criticized the military spokesperson as well, saying his press talk on Thursday had “severely disappointed” him.
“The words that were used [by the military spokesperson] were not appropriate,” Gohar said. “Those words were wrong.”
‘NATURAL OUTCOME’
Speaking to reporters earlier on Saturday, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif defended the military spokesperson’s remarks against Khan.
“When this kind of language is used for individuals as well as for institutions, then a reaction is a natural outcome,” he said.
“The same thing is happening on the Twitter accounts being run in his [Khan’s] name. If the DG ISPR has given any reaction to it, then I believe it was a very measured reaction.”
Khan, who was ousted after a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, blames the country’s powerful military for removing him from power by colluding with his political opponents. Both deny the allegations.
The former prime minister, who has been in prison since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, also alleges his party was denied victory by the army and his political rivals in the 2024 general election through rigging.
The army and the government both deny his allegations.
