Claim:
A video circulating on social media is claimed to show the Pakistan Army discreetly removing the bodies of soldiers killed during the March 2025 military operation against the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which followed the hijacking of the Jaffar Express.
Reality:
The footage predates the March 2025 incident by at least a year and is unrelated to the Jaffar Express hijacking.
What Happened:
In a post dated 14 March 2025, X user @jpsin1 shared a video depicting uniformed personnel transporting several bodies. The accompanying caption, written in Hindi, accused the Pakistan Army of concealing the deaths of its soldiers under the cover of darkness to avoid media attention.
The claim gained traction across platforms, with other accounts—particularly those based in India and Afghanistan—sharing the same footage alongside similar accusations.
This video began to go viral shortly after a high-profile security operation concluded in Balochistan, where the BLA had seized control of the Jaffar Express, a passenger train traveling from Quetta to Peshawar. The militants reportedly halted the train by attacking its front section in the Bolan Pass and took hundreds of passengers hostage.
According to Pakistan’s military, 33 militants were neutralized and 354 hostages rescued, though 21 civilians and four security personnel lost their lives. A revised figure issued later placed the death toll at 31. The BLA, however, made counterclaims, alleging that they executed more than 200 hostages, including military personnel—claims that remain unverified.
Unpacking the Footage:
Contrary to what was suggested in the viral posts, the footage in question had already appeared online as early as March 2024. An archived post by The Balochistan Post dated 21 March 2024 shows the same visuals, identifying the scene as one involving casualties from an earlier BLA attack on Pakistani forces.
Further evidence surfaced in the form of a Facebook reel posted on 20 March 2024, which carried the hashtags “#PakFouj,” “#ShaheedJawan,” and “#SalamPakFouj,” clearly intended to honor fallen soldiers and predating the 2025 incident.
Reverse image searches, including through tools like TinEye, traced the video’s earliest digital footprint back to April 2024, while some unverified social media users suggested it may be even older, possibly linked to a 2022 military helicopter crash in Lasbela. However, no concrete evidence supports the latter claim.
Wider Context:
The BLA has escalated its campaign of violence in recent years, targeting railway infrastructure and personnel across Balochistan. In August 2024, a key railway bridge between Kolpur and Mach was blown up, and in November, a suicide bombing at Quetta Railway Station killed dozens. A report by the Pak Institute of Peace Studies (PIPS) in January 2025 called the security situation in Balochistan “alarming,” citing an 84% rise in militant attacks in 2024 alone.
Final Assessment:
The video does not depict the aftermath of the March 2025 Jaffar Express operation. It was recorded and circulated at least a year earlier and has no connection to the events in question.
Verdict:
False Claim – Misleading Use of Old Footage
