When separatist militants stormed a train carrying over 400 passengers through a remote Balochistan mountain pass, blowing up the track and holding hostages for more than 36 hours, it exposed once again the deep and complex insurgency simmering in Pakistan’s largest and most resource-rich province. On this episode of the Kianistan Podcast, host Tafhim Kiani speaks with veteran Pakistani journalist and security analyst Imtiaz Gul about the roots and regional dimensions of Balochistan’s long-running crisis.

Gul, who has covered Pakistan’s security landscape for decades across Deutsche Welle, CNN, ABC News, and the German press agency DPA, walks through the details of the Jaffar Express hijacking, the identity and grievances of the Balochistan Liberation Army and its rival factions, and the decades of neglect and political marginalization that have fueled separatist sentiment in the province.

The conversation broadens into the intricate web connecting Balochistan’s insurgency to the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, allegations of Indian involvement rooted in what Gul describes as the ‘Doval Doctrine,’ and the province’s pivotal role in the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Gwadar Port.

Gul also offers a candid assessment of the difficulties China has faced navigating Pakistan’s governance challenges, and why, despite years of setbacks, he believes Beijing remains committed to its long-term partnership with Islamabad.

Key Topics Discussed

The Jaffar Express Hijacking

Gul details the sequence of events during the March 2025 attack on a train carrying hundreds of passengers through Balochistan.

• The Balochistan Liberation Army’s attack on the railway track, halting the train in a remote mountain pass
• The more than 36-hour hostage standoff involving over 400 passengers, including security personnel
• Casualties among security forces and passengers during the multi-pronged rescue operation
• The difficulty of operating in Balochistan’s vast, sparsely populated, and largely inaccessible terrain

The Balochistan Separatist Movements

Gul outlines the various armed groups fighting for Baloch independence and the grievances driving their campaign.

• The Balochistan Liberation Army, Balochistan Republican Army, and other separatist factions
• Longstanding grievances over political underrepresentation and control of natural resources
• The province’s persistent underdevelopment despite its mineral and strategic wealth
• Failed past attempts at political reconciliation, including talks in the early 2010s

Allegations of Indian Involvement

Gul lays out what he describes as the ‘Doval Doctrine,’ a strategy attributed to India’s national security establishment to exploit Pakistan’s internal fault lines.

• Statements from Indian security circles as far back as 2009 about exploiting Pakistan’s internal divisions
• India’s 2015 offer of political asylum to Baloch separatist leaders
• Prime Minister Modi’s 2016 Independence Day speech referencing Balochistan
• Pakistan’s public arrest of an alleged Indian intelligence operative in 2016 and its impact on bilateral tensions

The TTP-Balochistan Connection

Gul explains how the Pakistani Taliban and Baloch separatist groups, despite different origins, serve a shared destabilizing purpose.

• Gul’s characterization of TTP, BLA, and related groups as ‘franchises of terrorism’ with a common goal
• The shared objective of projecting Pakistan as unstable and unsafe for foreign investment
• How this destabilization campaign specifically targets confidence in Chinese investment
• The strategic logic of undermining CPEC through a sense of chronic insecurity

CPEC, Gwadar, and Chinese Investment

The conversation examines the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s troubled implementation and its central role in the Balochistan dispute.

• The shift from large government-to-government CPEC projects to smaller business-to-business initiatives
• Pakistan’s bureaucratic and governance shortcomings that complicated project delivery
• Chinese frustration with Pakistan’s fragmented, multi-party governance structure
• Concerns that early CPEC project allocation favored Punjab at the expense of Balochistan

Regional Rivalries Over Ports and Corridors

Gul discusses how Gwadar Port’s development intersects with competing regional interests in Chabahar and Dubai.

• Iran’s Chabahar Port as a potential competitor to Gwadar, backed by Indian investment
• Saudi-linked port interests in Dubai and their stake in regional trade competition
• How these overlapping interests may incentivize continued instability in Balochistan
• China’s long-term commitment to Pakistan despite security setbacks and investment slowdowns

Major Takeaways

• The Jaffar Express hijacking held more than 400 passengers hostage for over 36 hours before Pakistani security forces ended the standoff.
• Balochistan’s separatist movements, including the BLA, are driven by decades-old grievances over political marginalization and resource control.
• Pakistan alleges Indian involvement in fueling Baloch separatism through what Gul calls the ‘Doval Doctrine.’
• TTP and Baloch separatist groups, despite different origins, share the underlying goal of destabilizing Pakistan and deterring foreign investment.
• CPEC has shifted from large state-led projects to smaller business-to-business initiatives amid governance and security challenges.
• Despite setbacks, Gul believes China remains committed to its long-term economic partnership with Pakistan.

About Imtiaz Gul

Imtiaz Gul is a veteran Pakistani journalist and security analyst who began his career with Deutsche Welle in 1985 and has since reported for CNN, ABC News, and the German press agency DPA, in addition to writing extensively for Pakistani national newspapers.

He is widely regarded as one of Pakistan’s foremost experts on militancy, terrorism, and security in Balochistan and the country’s border regions, drawing on decades of field reporting and direct engagement with the region’s political and security dynamics.

• Balochistan insurgency and separatist movements
• Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran border security
• CPEC and China-Pakistan relations
• Terrorism and counterterrorism policy in Pakistan

About Kianistan Podcast

Kianistan Podcast, hosted by Tafhim Kiani, is a geopolitics interview show dedicated to giving listeners a deeper, more informed understanding of the security and political dynamics shaping South Asia and the wider region.

Episodes like this one draw on decades of direct field experience from veteran journalists and analysts, offering perspectives that go well beyond the surface-level coverage that major incidents like the Jaffar Express hijacking often receive.

By tracing the connections between local insurgencies, regional rivalries, and global economic interests, the show helps listeners see how seemingly isolated events fit into a much larger geopolitical picture.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happened during the Jaffar Express hijacking?

Militants believed to belong to the Balochistan Liberation Army blew up a section of railway track, halting a train carrying over 400 passengers in a remote mountain pass, and held them hostage for more than 36 hours before Pakistani security forces intervened.

Why is Balochistan experiencing an insurgency?

According to Imtiaz Gul, decades of political marginalization, underdevelopment, and grievances over control of the province’s natural resources have fueled a persistent separatist movement.

What is the ‘Doval Doctrine’?

It refers to a strategy attributed to India’s national security establishment, associated with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, to exploit Pakistan’s internal fault lines, including Balochistan, in response to Pakistan’s own policies in Kashmir.

How does Balochistan’s unrest affect Chinese investment?

Attacks targeting Chinese workers and infrastructure projects in Balochistan, central to CPEC and Gwadar Port, have slowed Chinese investment and shifted cooperation from large state-led projects to smaller business-to-business initiatives.

Conclusion

Imtiaz Gul’s conversation on Kianistan Podcast lays bare just how many overlapping interests, from local grievances to regional rivalries to great-power competition, converge in Balochistan, making it one of the most complex and consequential flashpoints in South Asia.

As CPEC’s future and Gwadar’s development remain closely tied to the province’s security situation, Gul’s analysis offers listeners essential context for understanding why Balochistan’s unrest is unlikely to be resolved through security measures alone.

SEO Keywords

• Imtiaz Gul
• Balochistan insurgency
• Jaffar Express hijacking
• Balochistan Liberation Army
• CPEC Gwadar port
• TTP Pakistan
• Doval Doctrine
• China Pakistan relations