The high-intensity bomb was planted on the tracks near a canal, 15 kilometres away from the Thul town of Jacobabad district and was remotely detonated. PHOTO: AFP
The high-intensity bomb was planted on the tracks near a canal, 15 kilometres away from the Thul town of Jacobabad district and was remotely detonated. The bomb weighed 20 kilogrammes, according to the bomb disposal squad. It is sheer good luck that the blast did not take place under the locomotive or it would have thrown all the coaches off track, as the driver of the train has rightly pointed out. The incident comes barely a month after the same train was targeted near Umerkot in Rajanpur district of Punjab. That blast had derailed seven bogeys of the train. At least four people had died in the incident as the Karachi-bound train passed over the explosive material on the track.
These attacks deserve denunciation in the strongest possible terms. As is the ritual, the railways minister condemned this attack, as he did the last time, and sought a report from the officials concerned, besides announcing a compensation of Rs500,000 for the dead. While this indeed is a welcome gesture, the minister, in tandem with the provincial government, should greatly focus on improving security along the railway lines to pre-empt the chances of similar assaults taking place. Safety regulations should be bolstered to deter such attacks. The railways, as an institution, is already counted as a white elephant chalking up losses year after year. If trains keep coming under attack, this is bound to discourage ever more people from using this mode of transport, dragging the railways deeper into the red.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2014.
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I want to share our experience about these type of incidents. Because we use have naxal attacks on trains, for that we use sent a pilot engine just half hour before in the same track and after it clearance only we will send the train on track. please convey this idea to your government please take care.
And the irony continues while the leader ship of this State enjoys the safety of the high walls of "Raiwind Palace", Bomb proof vehicles and Helicopter joy rides.