TRAIN JACK

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

12/III/2025

 

Train jacking was unheard of and it happened in none other than Pakistan. The BLA which has taken the responsibility has done it with thorough planning and surgical operation. ISPR is silent on the incident. The buzz is only on social media through which scanty details are emerging. There has been loss of life which is unfortunate.

 

The official response from Pakistan is expected on obvious lines. They would scale down the casualties of both their Armed forces personnel and civilians and exaggerate the numbers of the BLA forces killed. The culmination would be that they would tell the world that this is another “RAA ki Sazish”.

 

I would not go into the details of the Jaffar Express, the number of bogies and passengers, the starting station and its destination, the terrain it traversed and its route. All that is on the internet. This train had been cancelled for a while but had been restarted a little while back.

 

Pakistan could never have imagined that the BLA could execute such an attack. The Chinese too must have gone into shock. The first responders have a herculean task ahead. Helicopters, relief trains and Forces have been rushed to the tunnel where the BLA chaps are holding out with the contents of the train.

 

I am anticipating an air assault and even use of Artillery. Civilian casualties would be immaterial for the sake of Pakistan is my gut feeling. Very unfortunate and sad for those travellers. Most of them would be coming from or going on chutti especially in the month of Ramzan. I wish them luck.

 

Could it be an ‘off the cuff’ operation? The answer is an absolute NO. Meticulous planning, preparation and the final consequences would have been thought through by the BLA. For them laying down their lives for the cause they are fighting for is not important, but getting recognition and their rightful place in Pakistan is the major issue besides return of their missing persons if not AZADI would be the fulcrum.

 

While analysing the way they would have gone about getting hold of the train, certain points came to my mind.

 

Firstly, where to hijack the train? The terrain and spot were important. Non availability of mobile networks, so that news could not be leaked would be another factor for consideration.

 

The Location of the derailment had to be precise. Getting hold of the engine driver would be next or have someone who had served as an engine driver to replace and shunt the train as per their plan.

 

BLA chaps would have travelled on this route time and again understanding where the train halts, slows down or speeds up. Bogies where Forces personnel travel would have been under scrutiny. Behaviour of those personnel and their railway protection force, their locations and modus operandi would have been studied in detail.

 

Stations between which this train jack could be best carried out as a retaliation by the security forces would have been anticipated. Shafts into the tunnel would have been covered by fire. To operate in darkness, night vision and thermal imaging devices would have been procured or captured. Ammunition to last as long as possible would have been dumped in advance by the BLA.

 

Prominent heights around the tunnel would be manned with anti aircraft weapons as induction of special forces in helicopters would have been predicted. Locals would have been taken into confidence and sworn to silence.

 

Mobile phones of the travellers would have been confiscated. They say the train had nine bogies and about four hundred passengers. Man power to man all the bogies would have been catered for. All those who would have resisted or tried to escape must have been executed without remorse or pity.

 

Change of scene. A thought passed by that as a consequence of the ‘assumed involvement’ of our spy agency, could Pak plan/carry out such an attack on our recently commissioned trains in J&K through their Jehadis. If so, then what are the SOPs which need to evolve to run our trains smoothly.

 

Would we have TOPs (Track Opening Parties) like the ROPs (Road Opening Parties)? Do we have to man every tunnel/bridge and blind spot continuously? How would the passengers be kept under scrutiny? Our intelligence would now have to step up to keep their eyes and ears open both physically and electronically.

 

This need not happen in J&K alone. The North East is as vulnerable. With Bangladesh  already giving signals of being rebellious and ungrateful to India, we would have to beef up our guard there too.

 

Could there be dummy trains running on these routes? Would there be a need for deception like sending a TOP and not sending the train. Or sending the train when the TOP doesn’t deploy. Sending a ‘light engine’ ahead of the passenger train to take the brunt of an uprooted track/ derailment.

 

There are lessons for India from this attack. Hope we do not take it lightly.

 

Pakistan cannot differentiate between their knee and their elbow after being hit both internally and externally due to misplaced priorities and mishandling of their Balochistan/Afghanistan situation. God forbid, they go into a war with Afghanistan as the TTP and TTA are in collusion with the BLA. By the way, all Baluch organisations have now come under one umbrella, which is a far more dangerous situation.

 

How will Pakistan handle this train jack and beyond? I wonder!!!!!

 

JAI HIND
©® NOEL ELLIS