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.
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