Such was the finesse! But, of course, there aren’t any photographs/videos to flaunt. Operation Jaffar Express Clean-up was carried out with the least technology involved. All "30 BLA terrorists" wore the ‘separatist’ collar, which qualified them to be slain without explanation. Did the Pak Army line them up and shoot to kill, or was it close-quarters inside the bogies of the Jaffar Express?

These terrorists should read the ‘Book on Terrorism’ all over again, once more and then again, and again. Only the ‘un-terrorist’ kind will, upon accomplishing the “hijacking of Jaffar Express”, release civilian hostages! Give any other ‘terrorist group’ a similar bounty in human flesh and watch the bargaining chip. Seriously, if it was the Pakistan Army with this many Baloch civilians in custody, the scene would have been different. Pak Army soldiers are not the lily-livered, petrified at the sight of blood kind.

Ask Lt. Gen.BD Bakshi (Retd.), who keeps saying that Pakistani soldiers with Indian Army officers to lead them is an unbeatable combination, the best in the world. Gen. Bakshi has been getting away with such outlandish statements though Pak Army officers scoff at him and his statements.

About Operation Jaffar Express Clean-up and there is no photo evidence to prove DG ISPR right. Pakistani media never sought evidence but Pakistani defence experts and analysts, many of them, refuse to believe the DG ISPR spiel, which, by the way, has been dutifully appropriated by the world’s Press, including the vaunted Indian print media.

Pakistan Army’s DG ISPR's Jaffar Express claims were taken without a pinch of salt. But ask about Capt. Rizwan and DG's mouth will be sealed, lips sewn tight. Capt. Rizwan of the 43rd Punjab Regiment of Pakistan army was among the Pak army-men in Jaffar Express held hostage by the Baloch Liberation Army with video-footage showing him in BLA custody.

If every Pak Army man held hostage by the BLA has been rescued from BLA custody, why is Capt. Rizwan not being shown live like captured Indian Air Force pilot "Abhinandan" was paraded on Pakistan TV channels, accompanied with snide remarks. Where's this Capt. Rizwan now and where are the rest of the "rescued 180+ Pak Army soldiers"? Something rotten is smelling in Islamabad and it's not 'Salmon' or 'Pomfret'.

Those of us who have been tracking Jaffar Express ever since the hijacking haven't come across an iota of evidence of 'Operation Jaffar Express Clean-up'. Pakistan Army's DG ISPR has a history of telling mistruths. This is the same DG ISPR which took a contingent of "international Press" to the Pakistani side of the LOC in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to deny India's "surgical strikes" and later the Balakote strikes.

It is an old Pakistan Army modus operandi to cover its backside when there's cover-up to be done and lies to be told. Don't be surprised if the DG ISPR organizes yet another "international Press tour" to the 'Bolan' tunnel where the "ill-fated" Jaffar Express was bombed and derailed to a halt before the hostages were taken.

There still will not be a shred of evidence presented by Pak Army, or the Pakistani media, which has been comatose since March 11. If it was the Indian media, 'Bolan' in Balochistan would have been prominently displayed on the 'Atlas', overrun and trampled out of existence and belief, all the evidence destroyed, but at least the media wouldn't be sitting, waiting to be spoon-fed with half-truths and non-truths.

Finally, one shred of evidence of Pakistan under untold stress and a lot of consternation: Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has started the blame-game in earnest, "assailing" jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan's PTI of "politicising" the hijacking of the Jaffar Express and "misinterpreting" the situation on Social Media.

But Khawaja Asif did hint that things weren't hunky-dory in Pakistan. "Passengers were separated based on the provinces they belonged to and people hailing from Pakistani Punjab were identified and targeted." He didn't answer the question, "Why?" What makes the rest of Pakistan hate Pakistan's Punjab and Pakistani Punjabis? (IPA Service)