Stir at the station is unusual, seeing that the night is the middle. The platform is crowded with people. However, most of them are not boarding the train here. Their eyes are empty with the expectation of a new journey, with panic.
They are waiting for a freight train carrying their relatives and loved ones that are returning after recovering from Jaffar Express, which was attacked by Baloch separatists on Tuesday.
The parking area stands with satellite vans of cars, police vehicles, ambulances and media channels, giving the impression that it is anything but the usual day.
There is a young boy standing with me named Mohammed Tala.
He tells me that his father is on the Freight train, and travels in the direction of which he intended.
Sprayed and upset, free hostages traveled for miles to save their lives
His father, who works at a furniture shop in Quetta, when Rahim Yar Khan was going through the train transit.
Talha says he was going to inquire about a friend and was going to do some furniture work there.
“I talked to my father over the phone. Thankfully, he is safe and stable.
The lock is calm, confident and communicating, on the contrary, unlike other relatives of independent hostages assembled at the station.
When the arrival of independent hostages begins, their relatives flee to hug them. Some sore tears in the throat, while others thanked the Almighty for their safe return.
Most passengers are elderly, children and women.
Talha stabbed his father and ran to embrace him. They held each other firmly for some time.
I was hoping to have a brief conversation with his father, but he forgave himself and left.
The family later leaves for home, and ends the harassing day with a symbol of happiness.
Walked for miles
Raj Babi, an old woman was also on the train. She was going to Jacobs with her family.
While talking DonShe remembers the blasts and shootings when the militants attacked the train near Mushkif tunnel in Dhdar area of ​​Bolan Pass.
Raj Bibi added that the militants took him off the train with his family and other passengers and told them to “walk”.
“…[W]The e -Two continued for more than six or seven kilometers for about two hours.
“Ummah [Raj Bibi] Noor Mohammad, a retired Railway employee and a member of a Raj Bibi family, added.
They say they left behind others and reached a safe place after two hours to return to Quetta.
Mohammed picked up his small luggage and added, “Our feet are unconscious … We were very confused that we did not know what to do besides the walk.”
“I can hardly walk to the rickshaw to go home,” says Raj Bibi.
Like him and like Muhammad, other Don He also talked that he went for miles to save his life.
Most of them described the attack as the most traumatic experience of their life, which they could not believe they had excluded from the living.
An old man, who was going to Lahore, tells Zulfiqar, Don The passengers heard before a sharp explosion under the train.
After the blast, the militants opened fire on the train.
“I didn’t know what was happening. I could just pray for my safety, because I knew what was happening was very bad.
38 -year -old laborer Babar Masih said AFP The women requested the invaders “They saved us.”
“They told us not to get out and look back. When we ran, I saw many other people walking with us. Mohammad Bilal, who was traveling with his mother on a train, told AFP.
“I could not find words to describe how we managed to escape,” he said. AFP.
‘We were thirsty’
Most passengers who were walking long distances were fasting. They say their lips were subjected to severe water shortage because they connected uneven regions for security.
Ghulam Nabi says the attack was “the worst experience of my life”.
“We were thirsty and there was no drop of water to drink,” says Nabi, who was going to Jacobabad.
The happiness in people’s eyes was made by empty coffins standing at the station to see their loved ones safe and sound.
Journalists at the station counted 50 to 100 vacant coffins to bring them back – at least 25, as has been confirmed by a military spokesman – who were not fortunate to avoid the attack.
With input from AFP
Dawn, appeared on March 13, 2025
