The hijacking of the Jaffar Express which was travelling from Quetta to Peshawar on 11 March 2025 resulted in the killing of 21 civilians, 4 soldiers and 33 militants. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pakistan Army declared an end to the standoff on March 12, 2025 after storming the train and claimed to have rescued the majority of hostages.

 Balochistan, which accounts for over 43% of Pakistan’s land, has often complained of step-motherly treatment by Islamabad.  The reason for a sense of alienation among residents of Balochistan  is both economic and political. While in economic terms, people of the province have complained of their natural resources and minerals being exploited on the political front there has been intense resentment against human rights violations, including the mysterious disappearance of scores of Baloch youth, allegedly with the involvement of Pakistani security forces.  

In a recent statement, the BLA stated: "The valuable natural resources in Balochistan belong to the Baloch nation. Pakistani military generals and their Punjabi elite are looting these resources for their own luxury."

China would be closely watching the situation, since the BLA has been protesting against the China Pakistan Economic Project (CPEC project), seeing it as another means of exploitation of the people of Balochistan. BLA has also issued warnings to China as the Gwadar Port Project, one of the main highlights of the CPEC projects, is located in Balochistan.

Major attacks in recent years

If one were to look at some of the major attacks by BLA in recent years they are as follows:

(1) In March 2024, BLA militants had stormed the Gwadar Port Authority Complex and while the militants were killed, so were two soldiers.

(2) In August 2024, several workers from Punjab and members of the security forces were killed in an attack. Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif while commenting on the attack had said that the main aim was to destabilize the CPEC project and to create a wedge between Pakistan and China.

(3) In October 2024, two Chinese nationals were killed in a bomb attack by BLA on Karachi airport.

(4) In August 2021, a suicide bombing targeting a vehicle carrying Chinese nationals in Gwadar was carried out. In this attack, two children were killed and three were wounded.

(5) In April 2022, the BLA carried out an attack on the van of the Confucius Institute in Karachi University. In this attack, three Chinese instructors and the driver of the vehicle were killed.

China's security concerns

China has repeatedly raised the issue of security of its citizens with Pakistan. Since 2017, 21 Chinese nationals have been killed in terror attacks. Chinese nationals have been targeted not just in Balochistan, but also in neighbouring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK)

A report by a Chinese think tank said that Beijing should play a pro-active role in Pakistan's security. Feng Zhizhong, a researcher at the Security Studies Centre said: “In the face of the increasingly rampant terrorist activities of the BLA, [China] should change its mindset … and should even gradually play a leading role [in countering terrorism],”

During the visit of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to China, in February 2025, the issue of security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan was raised. A joint statement issued by both sides had urged Afghanistan to take steps to dismantle terror groups. Said the joint statement: “They called on the Interim Afghan Government to take visible and verifiable actions to dismantle and eliminate all terrorist groups based in Afghanistan which continue to pose a serious threat to regional and global security, and to prevent the use of Afghan territory against other countries,”

The US also condemned the deadly terror attack. It would be pertinent to point out that days earlier, the US had thanked Pakistan for its assistance in apprehending Mohammed Sharifullah, also known as "Jafar." He was linked to ISIS-K and was responsible for several terror attacks including the Abbey Gate terror attack in August 2021 in which 13 US Service members and 170 Afghan civilians had been killed.

The regional dimension

While Pakistan blamed Afghanistan for the recent attack on Jaffar Express, Kabul has dismissed this accusation. Islamabad also accused India of being involved in the hijacking of the train. India responded by asking Pakistan to look inwards instead of blaming others for its “internal problems” and failures.

The attacks are important for more reasons than one. First, resentment of the Baloch people is a key reason for these attacks. Second, these could further slow down the CPEC project which already has not progressed as expected. Third, Islamabad’s ties with not just India but also Iran and Afghanistan are already strained. Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan could witness a further downhill trajectory. Beijing’s response to the deterioration of ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan would be watched since China is cultivating close ties with the ruling Taliban dispensation.

(The writer is a New Delhi-based policy analyst associated with The OP Jindal Global University, Sonipat, India. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached at tsmaini@jgu.edu.in)