ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s military spokesperson, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry, slammed the Indian media on Friday for “glorifying” a separatist militant attack on a passenger train in Balochistan earlier this week, in which more than 200 people were held hostage, as he shared details of the rescue operation with the media.
The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) bombed part of a railway track and stormed the train on Tuesday afternoon in Mushkaaf, a rugged area in the mountainous Bolan range of Balochistan. The hostage crisis was resolved a day later when the armed forces conducted a successful operation to rescue the hostages, killing 33 militants in the process.
The military spokesperson noted during a news conference that while militants were holding hostages and the armed forces were evaluating the situation to prepare an appropriate response, an information warfare campaign began, led by the Indian media.
“The Indian media was using videos shared by the internationally recognized terrorist group,” he said, referring to the visuals shared by the BLA, while showing clips from news reports by Indian outlets.
“They used images generated by artificial intelligence and old videos as well to glorify and promote the attack internationally,” he added.
Chaudhry maintained the Indian coverage of the event highlighted the nexus between New Delhi’s ambition to destabilize Balochistan and the activities carried out by the armed separatist outfit.
He noted this was also revealed by an Indian national, Kulbhushan Yadav, whom Pakistan said it captured from the same province in 2016 and accused of working as a spy for India’s leading intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing. However, the Indian foreign ministry says he was kidnapped from Iran and illegally rendered to Pakistan.
The military spokesperson played portions of Yadav’s “confessional video” recorded soon after his arrest, in which he said he was tasked by the Indian authorities with facilitating militant violence in Balochistan.
Chaudhry also described the action against BLA militants as “one of the most successful” rescue operations carried out in a hostage situation.
“Not even a single casualty of hostages took place during this process,” he continued. “The whole operation was done with extreme expertise.”
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province by land area and has long been the site of a low-level insurgency, with separatist groups accusing the government of exploiting the province’s natural resources while leaving its people in poverty.
Government officials deny the allegation and say they are developing the province through multibillion-dollar projects, including those backed by China.
Pakistan military details rescue operation days after deadly train hijacking by separatists
https://arab.news/cpxzw
Pakistan military details rescue operation days after deadly train hijacking by separatists

- BLA separatists targeted a passenger train in Pakistan’s southwest earlier this week, 21 passengers and four troops killed
- Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry accuses India of launching information warfare by using AI images of the attack