Afghanistan has strongly denied Pakistan’s accusations that it provided sanctuary to the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and was involved in the deadly attack on the Jaffar Express. The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a statement on Thursday, called the allegations baseless and urged Pakistan to focus on its internal security challenges instead of making “irresponsible” statements.
Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi rejected Pakistan’s claim that the attackers had links to Afghanistan. “We categorically reject baseless allegations by Pakistani army spokesman linking the attack on a passenger train in Balochistan province with Afghanistan… No member of Balouch opposition have presence in Afghanistan, nor have they ever had or have any links with the Islamic Emirate,” he said. He further criticised Pakistan’s military for deflecting responsibility, saying, “[We] urge Pakistani side to focus on resolving their own security & internal problems instead of [making] such irresponsible remarks.”
The remarks came after Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) stated that intelligence reports had confirmed direct communication between the Jaffar Express attackers and individuals based in Afghanistan. The train, carrying 440 passengers from Quetta to Peshawar, was hijacked by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) on Tuesday. The ISPR has claimed that the Pakistani forces have rescued the hostages after a two-day military operation, resuling in the deaths of 21 passengers and four FC personnel. The BLA, however, has rejectd these claims, arguing that it still holds the hostages and the claims of the situation being resolved are nothing more than propaganda.
The BLA has said that the passengers that the Pakistani authorities claim of having ‘rescued’ were in fact never taken as hostages – they were spared and told to run away from the site after the train was hijacked.
During a press briefing, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan reiterated that evidence had been traced to Afghanistan, linking it to the attack. However, he emphasized that Pakistan’s broader stance remained unchanged – India was the key player in orchestrating ‘terrorist’ activities within the country. “In this particular case, call records establish that the attackers were in direct contact with handlers in Afghanistan,” Khan said, while maintaining that Pakistan had long been a victim of cross-border ‘terrorism.’
He said that Pakistan has repeatedly asked the Taliban-led Afghan government to take action against ‘militant’ groups, particularly the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and BLA, which Islamabad accuses of using Afghan territory to launch attacks. Relations between the two countries have been increasingly strained over these security concerns.
The Afghan government, however, dismissed these concerns and condemned the train attack as a tragic loss of innocent lives. “We regret the loss of innocent people in this incident. The killing of civilians for political motives is never justified,” Balkhi said.