Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Saturday called for ‘decisive’ action by Pakistan against a militant group behind a deadly suicide attack in a border area, and said inaction by Islamabad could jeopardise relations between the neighbours.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA said Rouhani’s remarks came in a telephone conversation with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who said he would soon have ‘good news’ for Iran, according to the agency.
A suicide bomber killed 27 members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards in mid-February in a southeastern region where security forces are facing a rise in attacks by militants from the country’s Sunni Muslim minority.
The Sunni group Jaish al Adl (Army of Justice), which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for the ethnic minority Baluchis, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“We are awaiting your decisive operations against these terrorists,” IRNA quoted Rouhani as telling Khan. “We should not allow decades of friendship and fraternity between the two countries to be affected by the actions of small terrorist groups, the source of whose financing and arms is known to both of us,” Rouhani said.
Iran has blamed its regional rival Saudi Arabia and arch-enemies Israel and the United States for the attack and other cross-border raids, an accusation rejected by the countries.
“It is in Pakistan’s own interest not to allow our territory to be used by terrorist groups, and the Pakistani army is prepared to confront the terrorists more decisively with the information provided by Iran,” IRNA quoted Imran Khan as saying. Khan said Pakistani forces have come close to the terrorists’ hideout and there would soon be ‘good news’ for Iran, IRNA reported.
According to a statement issued by the PM Office in Islamabad, Prime Minister Imran Khan had a telephonic conversation with President of Iran Hassan Rouhani as part of his contacts to brief important regional countries and their leadership about the regional situation. Both leaders reiterated the importance of strengthening bilateral relations, the statement said.
Both sides looked forward to the visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Iran in the near future. They agreed that the visit would help deepen bilateral coordination and cooperation.
Prime Minister Imran khan expressed his heartfelt condolences on the recent terrorist attack in which 27 Iranian guards were killed. The two leaders agreed on the need for closer cooperation among the two intelligence agencies in combating terrorism.
Prime Minister Khan also briefed the Iranian president about the latest situation vis-a-vis India, and Pakistan’s untiring efforts to defuse the situation through dialogue and improve bilateral relations with India. He underscored the role of important brotherly countries like Iran to help in this situation.
The prime minister thanked the Iranian leadership for their consistent and principled support for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.
President Rouhani said that Pakistan and Iran are neighbours and brotherly countries linked through centuries of closed historic cultural and people to people linkages. He believed that the role of the two countries would remain central in promoting peace, stability and economic development in this important region.
Published in Daily Times, March 10th 2019.
