Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A war of words between Pakistan and Iran escalated on Tuesday after Islamabad cautioned Tehran that a warning issued by the Iranian army chief a day earlier was against the ‘spirit of brotherly relations’ between two countries. And in Tehran, another senior military official warned that his country reserved the right to destroy the ‘lairs of terrorists in Pakistan’ following a recent terrorist crime against Iranian border guards serving on the country’s southeastern frontier.

Foreign Office in Islamabad on Tuesday summoned Iranian Ambassador Mehdi Honardoost and expressed serious concerns over a warning issued by Maj Gen Mohammad Baqeri that Tehran would hit ‘militant safe havens inside Pakistan if the government did not confront militants who carried out cross-border attacks last month’.

“We expect Pakistani officials to control the borders, arrest the terrorists and shut down their bases,” Baqeri had said on Monday. “If the terrorist attacks continued, we will hit their safe havens and cells, wherever they are,” he had said.

During his meeting with the Iranian ambassador, FO Spokesperson Nafees Zakaria highlighted an improvement in bilateral relations in the recent past and urged Iran to refrain from making statements that could harm relations between the two countries. He said an agreement had already been reached between the two countries to ‘enhance cooperation on border issues’ during the visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to Islamabad on May 3.

The summoning of the ambassador coincided with anti-Pakistan remarks by another senior Iranian military official. Speaking to Iranian news agency Fars, Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said it is Iran’s ‘inalienable and legal right to confront and destroy terrorists’ dens in any depths of the neighbouring country’s soil, in case the Pakistani government takes no serious measures’.

“The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran condemn such measures and if the Pakistani government does not take serious measures, they (Iranian forces) reserve the absolute and legal right to resolutely counter and destroy the lairs of terrorists however deep inside the neighboring country’s soil,” Iranian army’s ground forces commander said.

“Unfortunately, the regions adjacent to Iran’s eastern borders have turned into a shelter and place for training, preparing and equipping the terrorists who are mercenaries of Saudi Arabia and are supported by the US,” he said, and added that Iranian armed forces would spare no efforts to safeguard the country’s security.

The commander said the terrorist attack near the town of Mirjaveh against the Iranian border guards, who were confident of Pakistan controlling its border areas based on the border protocols, lacked any operational value and was not regarded as a success but ‘indicated the weakness of Pakistan’.

“I ask the government of friendly and neighboring Pakistan, which this blind and cowardly act has taken place on their side of border, to take a responsible step and identify, introduce and punish members of the terrorist and Takfiri groups, who are behind this crime, as soon as possible,” the brigadier said.

On April 26, 11 Iranian border guards were killed in clashes near Mirjaveh in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan. The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, and Iran had said the militant group operated from inside Pakistan.

Deepening the rift between the two neighbours, the Iranian police, in a statement carried by Iranian state media, said ‘the Pakistani government bears the ultimate responsibility of the attack’.

In a telephone conversation with Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan a day earlier, Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli called on Pakistan to take swift measures to improve security along its borders with Iran. Fazli said Islamabad should prevent the infiltration of terrorists into Iran, smuggling of narcotics and illegal crossing into Iran by Afghan nationals from the Pakistani border.