AS terrorists seek to cause maximum damage by attacking ‘soft’ targets, the authorities need to step up surveillance and safety measures wherever large gatherings of people take place. This includes airports, train stations, bus stations and other transport hubs. While the authorities have been slow in coming up with the details regarding the blast that targeted the Jaffar Express train in Punjab on Thursday, the Balochistan Nationalist Army claimed responsibility for the incident. At least one person was killed in the explosion that occurred in the train’s washroom. Officials ruled out a cylinder blast as the possible source of the explosion. Whether it is the threat of terrorism, or passengers carrying hazardous material on board trains and other modes of public transport, a review of safety precautions to protect this sector is definitely in order.

Proper screening of passengers and their luggage is required to prevent accidents as well as acts of terrorism. The gruesome blast aboard the Tezgam Express train in 2019, in which over 70 people lost their lives, with many burnt alive, highlighted the danger that carrying hazardous material on board poses. Many believed the blast was caused when some passengers started cooking breakfast on a portable stove in the moving train. Railways staffers need to remain vigilant to ensure such hazardous material is not carried aboard trains and buses. Where preventing terrorism goes, the screening of railway stations and other transport hubs needs to be stepped up. Following an increase in acts of terrorism last year, the train authorities claimed that they had beefed up monitoring at all major stations as well as along railway lines. These efforts need to continue, and monitoring should also be carried out at smaller stations to ensure terrorists and saboteurs are not able to plant explosives within trains or along the tracks. Plainclothes security personnel should be deployed to keep an eye on suspicious activity, while the use of CCTV cameras at facilities and on trains can also help detect malign actors. It is equally important that there is no laxity in the screening of passengers and luggage. The only way to ensure the safety of the travelling public is to maintain vigilance and prevent terrorists from carrying out their plans. These SOPs need to be enforced at all public places to thwart the attempts of violent actors to shed innocent blood.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2023