PM Kakar cuts short Davos trip

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar will cut short his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Thursday.

“PM Kakar has decided to cut short his visit in view of the ongoing developments,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a press conference.

Similarly, Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani, who is in Uganda to attend a ministerial meeting of the non-aligned movement, had also decided to return to the country.

Baloch said that that Pakistan desired peaceful relations with all countries, including Iran.

Separately, caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi said the government had lodged a protest with Iranian authorities over the “unprovoked violation” of its airspace.

China says willing to mediate between Pakistan and Iran

Beijing said Thursday it was willing to mediate between Pakistan and Iran following an exchange of fire against militant targets in their border region.

“The Chinese side sincerely hopes that the two sides can exercise calm and restraint and avoid an escalation of tension,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press conference.

“We are also willing to play a constructive role in de-escalating the situation if both sides so wish,” she said.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan and neighbouring Iran are both battling simmering insurgencies along their sparsely populated border regions.

Pakistan strikes terrorist hideouts in Iran

In a statement today, the Foreign Office said on Thursday Pakistan struck terrorist hideouts inside the Iranian border a day after Tehran violated the country’s airspace and launched strikes in Balochistan.

“This morning Pakistan undertook a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts in Siestan-o-Baluchistan province of Iran. A number of terrorists were killed during the Intelligence-based operation – codenamed ‘Marg Bar Sarmachar’, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.

“Over the last several years, in our engagements with Iran, Pakistan has consistently shared its serious concerns about the safe havens and sanctuaries enjoyed by Pakistani origin terrorists calling themselves Sarmachars on the ungoverned spaces inside Iran. Pakistan also shared multiple dossiers with concrete evidence of the presence and activities of these terrorists,” the statement said.