TEHRAN:
Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Pakistan Ambassador Nour Mohammad
Jadmani on Wednesday over the issue of reported killing of its border
guard.
Pakistan assured Iran that it would take action
against the perpetrators of the heinous crime if the Iranian government
provided credible evidence in this regard.Tehran issued a warning to
Islamabad after reports emerged that an Iranian soldier abducted and
taken across the border into Pakistan by extremists had been executed.
Iran’s
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed “grave concern” about
the fate of Jamshid Danayifar, who was kidnapped along with four other
border guards on February 6 by rebel group Jaish-ul Adl.
“We
did all we could to secure their release,” Zarif told the state
television after a cabinet meeting. “But it is disappointing that the
Pakistani government has failed to secure its borders, and allows
terrorists to operate on its soil.”
Zarif’s remarks came
after his ministry summoned Pakistani Ambassador Nour Mohammad Jadmani,
demanding “swift and serious action” to secure the release of the
soldiers, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Chairman
of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin
Boroujerdi also emphasised that the Government of Pakistan was
responsible for the safety of the Iranian border guards kidnapped and
taken to Pakistan.
Talking to IRNA, he noted that Iranian
officials had been constantly in contact with Pakistan’s interior and
foreign ministries over the issue.“According to the international law
and neighborly relations, it is the responsibility of the Pakistani
government to guarantee the safety of Iranian border guards who were
recently abducted into Pakistan by terrorist groups,” Boroujerdi added.
Interior
Minister Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli warned — without elaborating — that
Iran “reserves the right to utilise all its ability in its border
areas.” Jaish-ul Adl said on its website on Sunday that Danayifar had
been killed, warning of further executions should Tehran refuse to
release prisoners.
Iran’s interior ministry says it is
awaiting Islamabad’s official position amid media reports that local
Pakistani authorities have confirmed the group’s claim. The rebel group
is active in the restive Sistan-Baluchestan province that borders both
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
also condemned the reported killing as an “appalling act” and urged
that the perpetrators should be brought to justice.The Secretary-General
“expresses his solidarity with the government and people of Iran, who
are confronted with this appalling act amid the annual Nauroz
celebrations held to commemorate in peace the start of a New Year,” the
statement said, referring to the Persian New Year.
APP
adds: Pakistan on Wednesday expressed sorrow and grief over the reported
killing of one of the five Iranian border guards, who were abducted
from the Sistan-Baluchistan border last month.Foreign Office
spokesperson in a statement issued here on Wednesday said, “We condemn
this terrorist act, and share the grief and agony of the families of the
martyr and the other border guards.”
The spokesperson
said in the wake of the border incident, the Government of Pakistan has
extended all possible support in tracking the whereabouts of the missing
Iranian border guards.
She said during the last meeting
of the Joint Border Commission held in Quetta on February 19-20, a
Border Coordination Committee was also established to assist the
efforts.The spokesperson said, “The Government of Pakistan stands ready
to act on any credible and actionable intelligence made available to
it.”
She said, “However, our investigations have neither
corroborated nor established the entry into or presence within Pakistani
territory of the Iranian border guards.”The spokesperson said Pakistan
deeply values its brotherly relations with Iran.
