THE bustle at the station is unusual, given that it is the middle of the night. The platform is crowded with people. However, most of them are not here to board a train. Their eyes are devoid of anticipation of a new journey, replaced with dread.
They are waiting for a freight train carrying their relatives and loved ones who are returning after being rescued from Jaffar Express, which was attacked by Baloch separatists on Tuesday.
The parking area is lined with cars, police vehicles, ambulances and satellite vans of media channels, giving the impression that it is anything but a usual day.
Standing beside me is a young boy named Mohammad Talha.
He tells me that his father is on the freight train, taking the journey in the direction opposite to what he had originally intended.
Parched and distraught, freed hostages walked for miles to save their lives
His father, who works at a furniture shop in Quetta, was going to Rahim Yar Khan when the train was waylaid.
He was going to inquire after a friend and do some furniture work there, says Talha.
“I have spoken to my father over the phone. Thankfully, he is safe and sound.”
Talha is calm, confident, and talkative, unlike most other relatives of the freed hostages gathered at the station.
As the freed hostages start arriving, their relatives frantically run to hug them. Some burst into tears in the embrace, while others offered gratitude to the Almighty for their safe return.
Most of the passengers are elderly people, children and women.
Talha spots his father and rushes to hug him. They held each other tightly for some time without uttering a single word.
I was hoping to have a brief chat with his father, but he excused himself and went away.
The family later leaves for home, culminating an agonising day with a semblance of joy.
Walked for miles
Raj Bibi, an older woman, was also on the train. She was going to Jacobabad with her family.
While talking to Dawn, she recalls explosions and firing as militants ambushed the train near the Mushkaf Tunnel in Dhadar area of Bolan Pass.
Raj Bibi adds that the militants disembarked her from the train along with her family and other passengers and asked them to “go back on foot”.
“…[W]e walked more than six or seven kilometres for almost two hours.”
“Amma [Raj Bibi] could hardly walk,” adds Noor Mohammad, a retired railway employee and a family member of Raj Bibi.
He says they lagged behind others and reached a safe place after two hours, to return to Quetta.
“Our feet are numb … We were so confused we did not know what to do except walk,” adds Mohammad while carrying his small luggage.
“I can hardly walk to a rickshaw to go home,” says Raj Bibi before leaving.
Like her and Mohammad, others Dawn spoke to also said they walked for miles to save their lives.
Most of them described the attack as the most traumatic experience of their lives, one they couldn’t believe they made out of alive.
Zulfiqar, an elderly man who was going to Lahore, tells Dawn that passengers heard a loud explosion under the train before it stopped.
After the explosion, militants fired on the train.
“I did not know what was happening. I could merely pray for my safety, as I knew whatever was happening was something very bad.”
Babar Masih, a 38-year-old labourer, told AFP that women pleaded with the attackers before “they spared us.”
“They told us to get out and not look back. As we ran, I noticed many others running alongside us.” Muhammad Bilal, who was travelling with his mother on the train, told AFP.
“I can’t find the words to describe how we managed to escape,” he told AFP.
‘We were thirsty’
Most passengers who walked long distances were fasting. They say their lips were parched with severe dehydration as they manoeuvred the rugged terrain to safety.
Ghulam Nabi says the attack was the “worst experience of my life”.
“We were thirsty and there was not a single drop of water to drink,” says Nabi, who was going to Jacobabad.
The joy in people’s eyes to see their loved ones safe and sound was juxtaposed by empty coffins lined at the station.
Journalists present at the station counted around 50 to 100 empty coffins to bring back those — at least 26, as confirmed by the military spokesperson — who were not lucky enough to survive the attack.
With input from AFP
Published in Dawn, March 13th, 2025
