QUETTA: Pakistan Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi said on Wednesday train operations from Quetta Railway station in the southwestern Balochistan province would be fully restored from Mar. 28 while Jaffar Express, the victim of a deadly hijacking by militants earlier this month, would resume services to Peshawar from tomorrow, Thursday. 

The separatist Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the Mar. 12 attack on the Jaffar Express, during which they blew up train tracks and held passengers hostage in a day-long standoff with security services in a remote mountain pass. The death toll included 31 soldiers, staff and civilians.

Addressing a news conference in Quetta, Abbasi said Jaffar Express would depart for the northwestern city of Peshawar tomorrow, Thursday, but full-scale train services from Quetta would be restored on Mar. 28.

“Although we don’t have enough strength of Railway Police Forces, many stations require fencing and other security equipment,” he told reporters, admitting that railways facilities in the province faced security challenges. 

“We are recruiting 500 soldiers in the Pakistan Railway Police and 70 percent of the recruitment would be for Balochistan,” the minister added. “We have planned new security strategies with the frontier corps and other law enforcing agencies.” 

He also announced a special Eid train from Quetta Railway station with fool-proof security for passengers. 

“We are very much optimistic about better security to the railway’s passengers in Balochistan,” Abbasi said.

“We have repaired all damaged carriages of the attacked Jaffar Express, and new rack of carriages would be included in the train operations from Balochistan.” 

The BLA is the largest and strongest of several ethnic Baloch insurgent groups which have been fighting for decades to win independence for the mineral-rich province, home to major China-led projects including a port and gold and copper mines.