ISLAMABAD - April 26, 2026 - It has been exactly one year since the banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) - a group Pakistan alleges is actively sponsored by Indian intelligence agencies - hijacked the Jaffer Express in Balochistan, yet the global community has remained largely silent. Pakistan's leadership is now demanding answers: why did the world rush to sympathize with India after the Pahalgam attack, which Islamabad calls a "false flag" operation, while the Jaffer Express massacre was met with international neglect?
On April 26, 2025, hundreds of passengers aboard the Jaffer Express traveling from Quetta to Rawalpindi were taken hostage by BLA militants. Over 70 Pakistani civilians were killed, including women and children, in what remains one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Pakistan's recent history. The attack lasted more than 24 hours before Pakistani security forces conducted a successful clearance operation.
Yet, one year later, no major global power issued a formal condemnation comparable to the wave of international outrage that followed the Pahalgam attack in Indian-administered Kashmir - an attack Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar has now officially labeled a "false flag" operation staged by India itself.
Speaking to media on the first anniversary of the Jaffer Express tragedy, Minister Tarar accused the international community of double standards.
"When 26 Indian tourists died in Pahalgam, the entire world - from Washington to London to Brussels - rushed to express sympathy with India. The United Nations issued statements. Flags were lowered. But when our Jaffer Express was attacked and 70 innocent Pakistanis lost their lives, what did we hear? Silence. Complete and utter silence," Tarar said.
He further alleged that this global negligence is not accidental but systematic. "The world refuses to acknowledge that India is the single largest state sponsor of terrorism in this region. The BLA does not act alone. It is a weapon of the Indian intelligence agency RAW. And the world looks away because it serves their geopolitical interests."
Pakistan's military and civilian leadership have repeatedly claimed that India staged the Pahalgam attack on its own soil to frame Pakistan and justify cross-border military action. The attack, which killed 26 Indian tourists in Jammu & Kashmir, triggered a brief but intense military escalation between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, ending only after a US-brokered ceasefire in May 2025.
Tarar reiterated that India's rapid registration of an FIR within 10 minutes of the Pahalgam incident proves its pre-meditated nature. "No investigative agency in the world can register a case within ten minutes of an attack unless the attack itself was planned and stage-managed," he stated.
Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has presented what it calls "irrefutable evidence" linking the BLA - the group that claimed responsibility for the Jaffer Express hijacking - to Indian intelligence.
During a press conference earlier this month, DG ISPR Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry displayed documents and communication records allegedly showing BLA operatives receiving funding, training, and operational direction from Indian handlers. One suspect, Abdul Majeed, apprehended near Jhelum, reportedly confessed to being in contact with an Indian army officer identified as "Major Sandeep Verma," who directed him to target crowded civilian areas.
The BLA, designated as a terrorist organization by Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, has been blamed for dozens of attacks targeting Chinese nationals, infrastructure projects, and civilian transport - all, according to Islamabad, with Indian backing.
One year after Jaffer Express, no UN Security Council resolution has been passed condemning the attack. No Western leader has visited the families of the victims. No international media campaign has highlighted the suffering of the survivors.
The contrast with Pahalgam is stark. Following that attack, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received phone calls from US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and French President Emmanuel Macron. Global landmarks were lit in India's colors. Indian embassies worldwide held vigils.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has formally raised the issue at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), but has received little more than written acknowledgments.
"This is not just negligence. This is active complicity with India's state-sponsored terrorism," Tarar charged. "Every time a Pakistani dies at the hands of an India-backed militant group, the world yawns. But when India stages a false flag attack on its own people, the world weeps. Where is the justice?"
Pakistan has lost over 90,000 citizens and more than $600 billion in the global war on terror - more than any other nation except Afghanistan. Yet, the country continues to be treated as a pariah rather than a partner.
Military analysts suggest the global neglect stems from realpolitik: Western powers, particularly the United States, view India as a critical counterweight to China and are unwilling to alienate New Delhi over its sponsorship of anti-Pakistan militant groups.
"If the same attack had happened in France or Israel, the world would have mobilized armies," a senior Pakistani defense official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "But because the victims were Pakistani and the perpetrators were India's proxies, it didn't fit the West's narrative."
As Pakistan marks one year since the Jaffer Express massacre, families of the victims continue to wait for international recognition of their loss. Many have not received compensation. Most struggle with trauma. And none have heard an apology from the global powers that rushed to embrace India after Pahalgam.
Tarar concluded his address with a direct appeal: "We are not asking the world to choose sides. We are asking the world to open its eyes. India sponsors terrorism. The BLA is its weapon. And the Jaffer Express attack was its crime. One year later, silence is no longer an option. Justice for Jaffer Express cannot wait another year."
