Pakistan calls on Iran to prevent cross-border terror attacks

Pakistan has called on Iran to prevent its territory being used for cross-border attacks by militants and to hunt them down, amid a rise in terrorist attacks on Pakistani forces.

This week, an attack in Pakistan’s south-western Balochistan province killed four military personnel, and was reportedly conducted by militants hiding in Iran.

Following the cross-border terror attack, Pakistani Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, yesterday stated on Twitter that “I strongly condemn killing of our four security officials in a terrorist incident along Pakistan-Iran border in Balochistan”.

He added that the “Nation pays homage to the sacrifices of their martyred soldiers in line of duty. We expect Iran will ensure that its soil is not used for cross border attacks.”

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The Pakistani military also stated through its media wing, ISPR, that it had asked Iran to “hunt down the terrorists on their side”. Iranian authorities, however, did not yet respond to that request.

Pakistan has also reportedly urged Iran to conduct an investigation into this week’s attack.

Over the years, both countries have blamed each other numerous times for not taking sufficient measures to crack down on militant and terrorist activity in their vast border region, where drug smugglers, religious extremists and separatist groups have taken shelter.

In 2019, Islamabad and Tehran had agreed to form a joint force to combat the cross-border militant activity, but little seems to have resulted from that.

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