Iran, Pakistan’s interest lies in restoring relationship to pre-Jan 16 status: PM Kakar
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Friday said that it was in the interest of both Iran and Pakistan to take steps to restore their relationship to the levels before Tehran violated the country’s airspace.
On Tuesday, Iran had launched attacks in Pakistan targeting what it described as bases for the militant group Jaish al-Adl in the border town of Panjgur in Balochistan, Iranian state media reported, prompting strong condemnation from Islamabad and downgrading of diplomatic ties.
The Iranian strikes were part of a series of attacks carried out by Iran in recent days in Syria and Iraq as a response to recent terrorist attacks on its territory. They have heightened concerns about regional stability, particularly amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.
The next day, Pakistan struck “hideouts used by terrorist organisations namely Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF)” in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province, in an intelligence-based operation codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’.
Iran’s IRNA news agency had reported that nine people were killed in the attack targeting a village in the city of Saravan, with Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi saying all the dead “were foreign nationals”.
Following Pakistan’s tit-for-tat response to Iran’s missile attack, PM Kakar, who was in Switzerland for the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), decided to cut short his visit.
Iran had condemned the strikes, and summoned Pakistan’s charge d’affaires “to protest and request an explanation from the Pakistani government”, a statement by foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani had said. However, the Iranian foreign ministry later said in a press release that it was committed to good neighbourly relations with Pakistan.
