New Delhi, Mar 14: India has strongly denied suggestions made by the Pakistan foreign office that India had a hand in the Jaffar Express attack.

MEA official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "We strongly reject the baseless allegations made by Pakistan. The whole world knows where the epicenter of global terrorism lies. Pakistan should look inwards instead of pointing fingers and shifting the blame for its own internal problems and failures on to others."

Earlier on Thursday, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan claimed that the rebels involved in the attack on the Jaffar Express were in contact with ring leaders in Afghanistan.

"India has been involved in terrorism in Pakistan. In the particular attack on Jaffar express, the terrorists had been in contact with their handlers and ring leaders in Afghanistan," Shafqat Ali Khan said during his weekly press briefing.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained due to frequent border skirmishes and Islamabad claiming that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was using Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan. Kabul denies the allegations.

The statement came after Pakistan security forces claimed that they had eliminated all 33 Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) rebels who had hijacked the Jaffar Express which was carrying more than 400 passengers.

The Pakistani Army have not released any photographs or video of the claimed "successful operation". The rebel BLA on the other hand claims that the ISPR was covering up defeat.

Jeeyand Baloch, spokesperson for the BLA, insisted that "the battle is still ongoing across multiple fronts.

"Baloch claimed that the Pakistani army has "neither achieved victory on the battlefield nor managed to save its hostage personnel."

He accused the state of "abandoning its own soldiers" and leaving them "to die as hostages."

Released passengers who reached Quetta told Pakistani media that BLA fighters voluntarily freed women, children, and elderly individuals soon after seizing the train.

The BLA has also challenged Pakistani authorities to allow independent journalists and impartial observers into the conflict zone. The group contends the army's reluctance to permit such access demonstrates its "defeat."

(ANI)

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