Quetta: At the main ticket counter of the Quetta Railway Station, a handwritten notice affixed to the window proclaims it to be the ‘Information Desk for Jaffar Express’.

Security at the station is very tight, following news of the seizure of the Pesha­war-bound Jaffar Express in Baloch­ist­an’s Bolan district by Baloch separatists.

But things are surprisingly calm at the station as I enter the premises; apart from a couple of vehicles, and media personnel, there are very few people here on this cloudy evening.

The staff at the main ticket counter, when asked if there is any word on the Jaffar Express, reply calmly: “Sir, we know nothing, no news has come out of Bolan so far”.

The challenge they refer to is one of connectivity; the area where the train was waylaid by the militants is extremely isolated, located within the rugged hills of the Bolan range, dozens of miles from any settlement or main road.

In Mashkaf, over 150km from Quetta, there is no cellular network or internet, so most people — much like myself — would make a beeline for the station.

Here I find Mohammad Arif, who is worried sick about his brother, a railway security guard who was on board the train.

Ever since he received the news that his brother was aboard, Arif has been trying to reach him.

“Over and over again, I am dialing his number, but to no avail.” After several failed attempts, he says, he came to the station in the hopes of getting some information about his well-being.

After some time, Rana Abdul Rauf arrived at the information desk. He was inquiring about his father, who was going to Lahore by the same train. He was quite worried as he hadn’t been able to reach him over the phone.

“My father is a diabetic… I don’t know where he is or how he is doing,” he said, visibly perturbed.

“I don’t know if I have had Iftar, or offered my prayers, I am very mentally disturbed,” he concluded.

Scenes elsewhere

Similar scenes were also witnessed at the Peshawar Cantt station — one of the Jaffar Express’ final stops — on Tuesday night.

At the information desk for the Jaffar Express, officials told Dawn that only four of the passengers on the waylaid train were destined for Attock, Nowshera and Peshawar.

Meanwhile, the Lahore railway station wore a deserted look on Tuesday night.

Hafiz Saeed, a PR official on duty at the information office, told Dawn that a number of passengers had come to inqu­ire whether the Jaffar Express (down) would depart as scheduled. With rail tr­­affic to Balochistan suspended, that train will now terminate in Sukkur/Rohri.

Khalid Hasnain in Lahore and Mohammad Ashfaq in Peshawar also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2025