section_path: Background
section_name: Background
paragraph_text: Background
  
  The province of Balochistan has been involved in insurgencies and conflicts by Baloch separatists against the government of Pakistan since at least 1948. This is due to the alleged forced disappearances and violations of the rights of Baloch people by the Pakistan army and extreme poverty as well as under-developed infrastructure in Balochistan. Since 2001, armed groups in the region have conducted various violent attacks and campaigns to discourage major development in the region that they believe would benefit other provinces.
  
  The Balochistan Liberation Army is a Baloch ethnonationalist group founded in 2000. Members of the organization stated that their intentions were to achieve regional independence from Pakistan and control over the land's natural resources, primarily its oil and minerals. The faction had previously launched attacks on civilians and, most often, Pakistani security forces. BLA also targets Chinese nationals within the region, as they had been involved in economic infrastructure networking as part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor. It has officially been banned in Pakistan since 2006. Pakistan had previously accused India and Afghanistan of backing anti-Pakistani militants, which both BLA and the respective countries have denied. Since then, BLA has launched multiple terrorist attacks that resulted in the deaths of many people; among the most recent attacks in the region prior to the 2025 train hijacking was a November 2024 bombing at Quetta railway station that killed 32. The Jaffar Express passenger train was previously attacked by the BLA near the town of Machh on 7 October 2016 via two explosions that killed six people and injured 19 others.