Iran's FM sees third party's support for militants operating in Pak-Iran border

ISLAMABAD: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said he is sure that a third country is ‘involved’ in patronising the militants located on the Pakistan-Iran border.

He expressed these remarks during his joint press presser with Pakistan’s Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani here in Islamabad. Earlier both the foreign ministers also held extensive meeting and agreed to further expand cooperation in the shared goals of security, regional stability, trade and economy, adopting a collective approach to address the confronted common challenges.

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In a presser Hossein Amir Abdollahian said, “There is no doubt that the terrorists located in the common border regions and areas of Iran and Pakistan are led and supported by third countries and they never favour any good action in line with the benefits of the Iranian and Pakistani governments and nations,”

The Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian that Iran considers Pakistan as its brotherly, neighbourly and friendly country and both the countries strongly respect territorial integrity of each other.

“In a loud voice we will tell all terrorists that we (Iran and Pakistan) will not provide them with any opportunity to endanger our common security,” Hossein Amir-Abdollahian added.

He said the two sides also agreed to work together to promote the pilgrimage tourism and projects of energy cooperation.

As regards the Palestine issue, the Iranian FM appreciated Pakistan’s stance of supporting the Palestinians. He also reiterated his country’s resolve to continue to support the people of Palestine and the Palestine resistance.

“Pakistan and Iran enjoy great geographical, historical and cultural commonalities. If we look at the history of Pakistan and Iran there has never been any case of territorial differences or border problems between the two countries, which was one of the clear manifestations of friendly bilateral relations,” the Iranian FM added.

The Iranian foreign minister said it was agreed that the two countries would not let the terrorists endanger the security of border areas. He also wished successful and safe conduct of elections in Pakistan.

Speaking the presser, Jalil Abbas Jilani said that Pakistan and Iran have agreed to adopt collective and collaborative approaches to confront the terrorism by fully leveraging the robust institutional mechanism which already exists between the two countries.

He said the two sides recognized that the close bilateral relationship was not only imperative for shared prosperity and development of the people of the two countries but also an important source of stability for the region.

The foreign minister said during the meeting, both sides agreed to establish a high level consultative mechanism at the level of foreign ministers.

The two foreign ministers would meet alternatively in both Iran and Pakistan on a regular basis to oversee the progress that “is being made in various areas of our cooperation”, he added.

Stressing the need to address each other’s concerns with regard to terrorism, FM Jilani said in that respect the two sides had agreed to station liaison officers on which an agreement was already in place. The liaison officers would be deployed in Turbat and Zahidan, he added.

The foreign minister maintained that the visit of his Iranian counterpart testified deep commitment of both sides to further strengthen the bilateral relations.

He said during the meeting, respect of territorial integrity remained the foundational principle of bilateral cooperation.

The two sides, FM Jalil added, also agreed to prioritize economic uplift of their border areas.

“We have also agreed to fast-track the operationalization of the five remaining border markets,” he said. The markets would be operationalised at the earliest, he added.

Replying to a question with respect to the recent incidents, FM Jilani said that due to deep and historical bilateral relationships, the two sides were able to resolve the misunderstandings very quickly. He said Pakistan also extended an invitation to the Iranian president for a visit, which hopefully may take place any time after the general elections.