DG ISPR addresses press conference on Jaffar Express attack
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, is addressing a press conference to provide details on the Jaffar Express hijacking and the clearance operation that followed.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti is also attending the conference.
The ordeal began on Tuesday when separatist militants ambushed the Jaffar Express en route from Quetta to Peshawar, blowing up the railway track and attacking the train with rockets.
Security forces stormed the hijacked Jaffar Express on Wednesday, bringing a dramatic end to a 30-hour siege in the rugged Bolan area of Balochistan, killing all 33 terrorists, while successfully rescuing more than 300 passengers.
A day after the operation, the Foreign Office said that there was no doubt the attack was linked to Afghanistan.
Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan told the media that the Afghan soil had been used against Pakistan and the latest terrorist attack against Jaffar Express near Sibi in Balochistan was also orchestrated and directed by terrorist ring leaders operating from abroad.
"Terrorists were in direct communications with Afghanistan-based planners throughout the incident," he said. The Foreign Office statement came after the army also officially confirmed the Afghan link to the brazen train hijacking.
The spokesperson said Pakistan had repeatedly asked the interim Afghan government to deny the use of its soil for terrorist groups like BLA for their attacks against Pakistan.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Express Tribune
US Supreme Court grants DOGE access to sensitive social security data
The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen the morning before justices are expected to issue opinions in pending cases, in Washington, U.S., June 14, 2024. Photo:REUTERS Listen to article The US Supreme Court granted on Friday the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a key player in President Donald Trump's drive to slash the federal workforce, broad access to personal information on millions of Americans in Social Security Administration data systems while a legal challenge plays out. On the request of the Justice Department, the judiciary had put on hold Maryland-based US District Judge Ellen Hollander's order that had largely blocked DOGE's access to "personally identifiable information" in data such as medical and financial records while litigation proceeds in a lower court. Hollander found that allowing DOGE unfettered access likely would violate a federal privacy law. The top court's brief, unsigned order did not provide a rationale for siding with DOGE. BREAKING: The Supreme Court grants DOGE affiliates access to Social Security Administration records. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson would deny the request. — SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) June 6, 2025 The court has a 6-3 conservative majority. Its three liberal justices dissented from the order. Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in a dissent that was joined by fellow liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, criticized the court's majority for granting DOGE "unfettered data access" despite the administration's "failure to show any need or any interest in complying with existing privacy safeguards." In a separate order on Friday, the Supreme Court extended its block on judicial orders requiring DOGE to turn over records to a government watchdog group that sought details on the entity established by US President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk. DOGE swept through federal agencies as part of the Republican president's effort, spearheaded by Musk, to eliminate federal jobs, downsize and reshape the US government and root out what they see as wasteful spending. Musk formally ended his government work on May 30. Two labor unions and an advocacy group filed suits to prevent DOGE from accessing sensitive data at the Social Security Administration (SSA), including social security numbers, bank account data, tax information, earnings history and immigration records. The agency is a major provider of government benefits, sending checks each month to more than 70 million recipients including retirees and disabled Americans. Democracy Forward, a liberal legal group that represented the plaintiffs, said Friday's order would put millions of Americans' data at risk. "Elon Musk may have left Washington DC, but his impact continues to harm millions of people," the group said in a statement. "We will continue to use every legal tool at our disposal to keep unelected bureaucrats from misusing the public's most sensitive data as this case moves forward." In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that SSA had been "ransacked" and that DOGE members had been installed without proper vetting or training. They demanded access to some of the agency's most sensitive data systems. Hollander in an April 17 ruling found that DOGE had failed to explain why its stated mission required "unprecedented, unfettered access to virtually SSA's entire data systems". "For some 90 years, SSA has been guided by the foundational principle of an expectation of privacy with respect to its records," Hollander wrote. "This case exposes a wide fissure in the foundation." Hollander issued a preliminary injunction that prohibited DOGE staffers and anyone working with them from accessing data containing personal information, with only narrow exceptions. The judge's ruling did allow DOGE affiliates to access data that had been stripped of private information as long as those seeking access had gone through the proper training and passed background checks. Hollander also ordered DOGE affiliates to "disgorge and delete" any personal information already in their possession. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in a 9-6 vote declined on April 30 to pause Hollander's block on DOGE's unlimited access to Social Security Administration records. Justice department lawyers in their Supreme Court filing characterized Hollander's order as judicial overreach. "The district court is forcing the executive branch to stop employees charged with modernizing government information systems from accessing the data in those systems because, in the court's judgment, those employees do not 'need' such access," they wrote. The six dissenting judges wrote that the case should have been treated the same as one in which 4th Circuit panel ruled 2-1 to allow DOGE to access data at the US Treasury and Education Departments and the Office of Personnel Management. In a concurring opinion, seven judges who ruled against DOGE wrote that the case involving Social Security data was "substantially stronger" with "vastly greater stakes," citing "detailed and profoundly sensitive Social Security records," such as family court and school records of children, mental health treatment records and credit card information.
Business Recorder
2 days ago
- Business Recorder
North Korea hit by major internet outage, likely due to internal cause
SEOUL: North Korea's internet was hit by a major outage that lasted several hours on Saturday, knocking off connection to government web sites and official news services online and severing the reclusive country from cyberspace. It was not clear what caused the outage but it may have been internal rather than a cyberattack, as connections via China and Russia were affected, said researchers who monitor North Korea's internet and technology infrastructure. North Korea's main official news services, its Foreign Ministry, and the Air Koryo national airline were among websites inaccessible on Saturday, before they started coming back slowly around midday according to checks by Reuters. North Korea's entire internet infrastructure was not showing up on systems that can monitor internet activities, and email services were also affected, Junade Ali, a U.K.-based researcher who monitors the North Korean internet, said earlier. 'Hard to say if this is intentional or accidental - but seems like this is internal rather than an attack.' North Korea says military ties with Russia to ensure 'peace' Officials at South Korea's cyber terror response centre, a police division that monitors North Korea's cyber activities, could not be reached for comment. Martyn Williams, who specializes in North Korea's technology and infrastructure at the Washington-based Stimson Center, also said the cause appeared to be internal as the Chinese and Russian connections were not working. North Korea has one of the world's most strictly controlled internet systems, including access to any form of online communication. The general public has access only to an intranet set up by the government and that is not connected to the wider global network. An elite few in the government and leadership are allowed open internet access, and government and news websites often serve up propaganda for outside audiences. North Korea has in previous years experienced large internet outages suspected as being caused by cyberattacks. The country operates elite teams of hackers, including a group known as Lazarus run by the government intelligence apparatus, that are blamed for attacks against foreign institutions and companies and more recently for theft and the laundering of cryptocurrencies. North Korea denies involvement in hacking, crypto thefts and other cybercrime.
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Express Tribune
Pakistan rejects Modi's misleading remarks
Modi likely to skip G-7 summit in Canada amid cold war between two countries. PHOTO: FILE Listen to article Pakistan firmly rejected the baseless and misleading remarks made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), and making hollow claims of development in the disputed territory. In a statement, Foreign Office spokesperson stated that such statements represented a deliberate attempt to deflect international attention from the grave and persistent human rights violations being committed in a territory under foreign occupation. The Foreign Office statement came after Modi made his first visit to IIOJK since the April 22 Pahalgam attack triggered a four-day war between the two nuclear-armed countries. During the visit, Modi launched a string of development projects for the disputed territory. "We are deeply dismayed that the Indian Prime Minister has once again chosen to accuse Pakistan of involvement in the Pahalgam attack, without presenting a single piece of credible evidence," the Foreign Office statement said. "Jammu and Kashmir remains an internationally recognised disputed territory, the final status of which is to be determined in accordance with the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and the will of the Kashmiri people. No amount of rhetoric can change this legal and historical reality," it added. "Claims of development in IIOJK ring hollow against the backdrop of an unprecedented military presence, suppression of fundamental freedoms, arbitrary arrests, and a concerted effort to alter the region's demography in violation of international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention." The Foreign Office reiterated that Pakistan remained steadfast in its principled support for the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their just struggle for their rights and dignity. It urged the international community to hold India accountable for its reign of oppression in IIOJK.
